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V.I 


|hs  f»t  t\t  ©llr  |«iinlrattffn8. 
A  SERMON, 

©octrtnal  ants  fB.istorical, 
DELIVERED    AT    THE    RE-DEDICATION 


PEESBYTEKIAN  CHUECH 

OF  BLOOMFIELD,  N.  J., 

On  Sabbath  Moroing  and  Afternoon,  Dec.  18,  1853. 

BT 

REV.   JAMES  MANNING  SHERWOOD, 


PASTOR    OF    THE    CHURCH. 


JMitfi  an  "apprntii  of  Plistorital  iffitmorantia. 


REV.     STEPHEN     DODD 


PUBLISHED  BY  REQUEST. 


NEW    YORK: 
PUBLISHED    BY    M.    \V.    DODD, 

Cor.  Sfb0CE  St.  and  City  Hall  Squake. 


1854        /-gfSvOFPRife 


fOyj^ 


JUN    20  1997 


""Logical  SE^'^"" 


^v^^. 


Bloomfield,  Dec.  22,  1853. 
Ret.  J.  M.  Sherwood  : 

Respected  and  Beloved  Pastor  : — The  under- 
Bigned  beg  leave  respectfully  to  request  for  publication  a  copy  of 
your  discourse,  delivered  Sabbath,  Dec.  18th,  on  the  occasion  of 
the  re-dedication  of  our  Sanctuary.  The  very  unusual  interest 
which  it  excited  in  our  minds,  the  value  of  it  as  a  matter  ot 
history,  and  the  good  which  we  believe  it  cannot  fail  to  accom- 
plish, if  given  to  the  public  in  a  permanent  form,  seem  to  be  rea- 
sons conclusive  to  justify  us  in  making  this  request. 


"With  assurances  of  our  highest  regard, 

"We  are  yours,  &c., 


Z.  B.  DODD, 
ELIPHALET  HALL, 
CALEB  BALDWIN, 
DANIEL  DODD, 
STEPHEN  MORRIS, 
IRA  DODD, 
SniEON  BALDWIN, 
BETHUEL  WARD, 
HERMAN  CADMUS, 
JOSEPH  COLLINS, 
C.  D.  BALDWIN, 
E.  D.  WARD, 
THOMAS  SPEAR, 
ISAAC  DODD, 
ISRAEL  C.  WARD, 


WARREN  S.  BALDWIN, 
JASON  CRANE, 
HORACE  PIERSON, 
SILUS  W.  STILES, 
D.  OAKES, 
J.  K.  OAKES, 
M.  W.  DODD, 
WM.  J.WILLIAJISON, 

D.  W.  SMITH, 
THOMAS  TAYLOR, 
MARK  W.  BALL, 
NATHANIEL  H.  BALDWIN, 
J.  H.  RUNDELL, 

WM.  JINKDSrS, 

E.  M.  DODD, 


(8) 


NOTE. 

It  is  due  to  the  Author  to  say,  that  the  following  Discourse  was 
one  of  his  ordinary  pulpit  preparations,  and  is  indebted  for  any 
Special  interest  it  may  have  or  claim  to  publication,  to  the  occa- 
sion, and  the  history  which  it  contains.  Faulty  as  he  knows  it  to 
be  as  a  composition,  it  could  not  be  materially  changed  without 
recasting  it  entire,  and  is  therefore  published  just  as  it  was 
delivered,  adding  a  few  notes  to  supply  in  part  its  defects,  and 
amplifying  one  or  two  thoughts  somewhat.  As  some  exception 
was  taken  to  the  language  used  on  a  point  or  two,  in  giving 
it  a  more  public  and  permanent  form,  such  language  has  been 
chosen  as  he  thinks  can  justly  offend  no  one,  while  it  retains  the 
essential  facts  of  impartial  history.  Greatly  interested  and  in- 
structed himself  by  the  history  of  God's  dealings  with  this  people, 
it  is  his  hope  and  prayer  that  this  imperfect  sketch  may  be  blessed 
to  the  edification  and  encouragement  of  his  people. 

Bloomfield,  January,  1854. 


nmm. 


par:t  I. -doctrinal. 


*'  If  the  foundations  be  destroyed,  what  can  the  righteous  do  S" — 
Psalm  xi.  3. 

A  WISE  Builder  will  look  well  to  the  foundations 
of  the  edifice  which  he  has  undertaken  to  erect. 
The  vaster  and  weightier  that  edifice  is  to  be,  the 
deeper  and  broader  will  he  seek  to  lay  the  founda- 
tions. If  he  means  that  building  to  stand  and  to 
perpetuate  his  fame  as  a  mechanic,  he  will  regard 
no  amount  of  time  and  pains  and  money  expended 
to  secure  a  solid  and  enduring  basis,  as  wasted. 
For,  he  knows  that  in  vain  is  the  massive  super- 
structure carried  up ;  in  vain  are  costly  and 
durable  materials  employed  ;  in  vain  is  the  skill 

(5) 


6  PLEA  FOR  THE   OLD   FOUNDATIONS. 

of  the  architect  and  all  the  appliances  of  the  most 
finished  art  in  adorning  and  beautifying  it,  if  the 
foundations  be  frail,  or  of  decaying  material. 

A  wise  Statesman,  anxious  to  achieve  and  per- 
petuate the  prosperity  of  a  nation,  will  look  well 
to  the  "  foundations"  of  the  thing.  He  is  too 
sagacious  to  suppose  for  a  moment  that  such  a 
condition  can  be  secured  by  artificial  causes — by 
a  happy  hit — or  by  sleight  of  hand  in  turning  the 
wheel  of  Fortune — or  by  spreading  his  sails  to  the 
popular  breeze.  He  knows  the  fallacy  of  all  such 
hopes  ;  that  all  success  gained  in  this  way  is  at 
best  uncertain  and  short-lived.  He  is  too  shrewd 
an  observer  of  "  men  and  things"  to  risk  his  repu- 
tation and  aims  on  a  policy  so  blind  and  pre- 
carious. He  knows  that  to  reach  such  an  end, 
his  policy  must  be  an  enlightened,  liberal,  sub- 
stantial, and  comprehensive  policy,  based  on 
sound  principles  of  political  economy,  and  on  a 
thorough  knowledge  and  appreciation  of  the  times 
in  which  he  lives,  and  of  the  genius  and  institu- 
tions of  the  people  whom  he  seeks  to  guide  and 
serve.  He  knows  that  the  foundations  of  all  real 
and  permanent  prosperity  must  be  laid  in  truth 
and.  justice — in  wise  and  wholesome  laws — in  the 


PLEA   FOR  THE   OLD   FOUNDATIONS.  7 

eternal  principles  of  morality  and  virtue — in  the 
intelligence,  the  patriotism,  the  thrift,  the  order 
and  contentment  of  the  people.  The  foundations 
once  carefully  and  thoroughly  laid,  and  the 
achievement  will  be  easy,  and  the  work  will 
stand. 

The  Military  Commander  also,  going  to  make 
war  with  an  enemy,  is  apt  to  be  wise  on  this 
point.  He  looks  to  his  "  foundations,"  He  sits 
first  down  and  counts  the  cost.  He  augments  and 
makes  available  his  resources.  He  thoroughly 
disciplines  and  equips  his  soldiers.  He  seeks. to 
make  the  war  popular  with  the  people.  He 
secures  a  broad  and  advantageous  base  for  his 
operations.  He  risks  as  little  as  possible  to  the 
hazards  of  battle.  He  knows  that  his  strength 
lies  not  in  the  number  of  his  soldiers,  so  much  as 
in  their  discipline,  in  the  spirit  which  animates 
them,  in  the  plan  and  skill  of  his  movements,  in 
the  thoroughness  of  his  knowledge  of  the  science 
of  warfare,  and  in  his  ability  to  concentrate  his 
strength  and  employ  it  v/ith  effect  at  the  favorable 
moment. 

"We  read,  indeed,  of  "soldiers  oi fortune ;''''  but 
sure  I  am  that  the  great  and  successful  Generals 


8  PLEA   FOR   THE   OLD   FOUNDATIONS. 

immortalized  in  History,  were  any  thing  but  apes, 
or  the  children  of  a  blind  and  stupid  Fortune.  They 
were  gifted  with  genius,  with  penetration,  with 
the  power  of  commanding ;  and  they  made  their 
way  to  victory  and  conquest  and  fame,  by  a  saga- 
cious and  worldly-wise  use  of  their  gifts  and  op- 
portunities. They  took  care  of  the  "  foundations," 
and  success  followed,  and  History  monuments 
their  exploits. 

Napoleon  has  been  thought  by  many  to  be  a 
splendid  exception  to  this  rule.  He  is  called  par 
excellence  "the  soldier  of  fortune,"  "the  man  of 
destiny."  But  such  a  view  of  him  is  superficial. 
It  was  any  thing  but  a  "  blind  god"  that  led  him 
forth  to  victory.  It  was  not  the  confluence  of 
favoring  tides,  nor  fortuitous  adventures,  nor  the 
genius  of  the  age,  nor  a  contracted,  superficial,  or 
indolent  policy,  which  raised  him  to  the  highest 
pitch  of  earthly  greatness,  and  made  him  an  over- 
match for  combined  Europe,  but  it  was  the  intensi- 
fied action  of  commanding  qualities.  His  genius 
was  of  the  very  highest  order.  His  mastery  of  know- 
ledge,and  his  power  of  endurance  and  of  application, 
were  almost  superhuman.  No  man  ever  so  thor- 
oughly understood  that  strange  people,  the  French  ; 


PLEA   FOR   THE    OLD   FOUNDATIONS.  9 

or  SO  wielded  at  will  a  nation's  resources  ;  or 
mastered  such  a  facility  in  creating  the  bone  and 
sinew  of  war  ;  or  succeeded  so  well  in  infusing 
his  own  intensely  ambitious  and  glory-loving 
spirit  into  his  soldiers,  and  attaching  them  to  his 
person.  No  man  ever  mastered  the  science  of  war 
as  he  mastered  it ;  or  has  shown  such  consum- 
mate skill  and  superiority  in  concentrating  his 
strength  and  hurling  it  upon  a  distant  foe.  He 
swept  like  a  whirlwind  over  Europe  ;  but  it  was 
not  "a  freak  of  the  winds"  that  armed  and 
guided  that  Power.  A  mighty  genius  had  created 
it;  a  mighty  hand  guided  it;  it  had  a  living 
soul ;  a  nation's  vitality,  and  concentrated  and 
combined  energies,  were  in  it.  No  man  ever  made 
success  more  dependent  on  talent,  skill,  sagacity, 
penetration,  vigorous  action — on  foundations  deep- 
laid,  and  broad  and  strong  as  a  nation's  enthu- 
siasm and  sentiments  and  sympathies.  And  but 
for  his  Russian  campaign,  which  was  a  palpable 
violation  of  his  own  settled  policy — a  gigantic 
enterprise  with  little  or  no  foundations  to  sustain 
it,  and  the  unfortunate  issue  of  which  lost  him, 
for  the  time  being,  the  sympathies  and  confidence 
of  France — he  might  have  retained  and  perpetu- 


10     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

ated  his  power.  Recent  events  have  shown  what 
deep  and  stable  foundations  he  laid  in  the  affec- 
tions and  sentiments  of  that  people.* 

Now,  if  if  is  wise  for  the  men  of  this  world  to 
look  well  to  the  "foundations,"  it  certainly  is  wise 
for  "  the  children  of  the  kingdom"  to  do  it.  If 
this  principle  or  policy  is  so  effective,  often  for 
evil,  in  the  hands  of  earthly  ambition  and  enter- 
prise, it  can  be  made  mighty  through  God,  in  the 
hands  of  the  righteous,  to  pull  down  evil,  and 
build  up  the  Messiah's  throne.  The  "founda- 
tions" once  fairly  and  strongly  laid,  in  the  indivi- 
dual soul,  in  the  family,  in  a  community,  in  the 
nation,  in  the  world's  great  movements,  and  there 
is  comparatively  little  danger  ;  an  immense  advan- 
tage has  been  gained  ;  the  work  of  reformation 
and  salvation  will  go  on  ;  nothing  can  stop  it.  For 
the  truth  now  has  free  course.  The  Gospel  finds 
something  to  act  upon.     The  way  is  prepared  for 

*In  saying  this  much  of  the  great  Napoleon,  I  had  no  fears  that 
my  own  people  would  infer  that  I  was  among  his  admirers,  inas' 
much  as  I  had  but  recently  expressed  in  a  sermon,  the  strongest 
feeling  of  reprobation  of  the  man  and  his  career,  morally  viewed, 
and  of  the  conduct  of  those,  not  excepting  the  reverends,  who  are 
wielding  their  pens  so  lustily  in  the  vain  and  wicked  attempt  to 
set  aside  the  just  verdict  which  the  enlightened  moral  sentiment 
of  the  world  has  passed  upon  him. 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     11 

the  Holy  Spirit.  The  foundations  give  vitality  to 
virtue  and  piety,  maturity  to  character,  and  dura- 
bility to  all  that  is  good. 

But  "  if  the  foundations  he  destroyed^  v^^hat  can 
the  righteous  do  ?"  If  the  ground -work  of  nature, 
of  truth,  of  grace,  of  Providence,  be  swept  away, 
what  is  there  left  to  build  upon  ?  If,  for  instance, 
a  sinner's  conscience  and  moral  sensibilities  are  all 
frittered  away  ;  if  all  the  constitutional  elements 
of  virtue  and  restraint  are  uprooted  and  cast  out 
of  his  soul — what  hope  is  there  of  his  salvation? 
If  the  family  training  do  not  subdue  the  wayv/ard 
passions  of  youth,  and  lay  the  foundation  of  self- 
government,  thrift,  and  piety,  what  can  Society 
do  to  restrain  man,  or  the  Church  to  save  him  ? 
If  the  State  strike  down  the  principles  of  righteous- 
ness, by  her  legislative  or  executive  mandate, 
how  is  it  possible  to  hold  Society  together  ?  If 
the  Church  remove  her  "ancient  land-marks" — - 
corrupt  the  essential  doctrines  of  the  Gospel — or 
lose  the  life  and  spirit  of  her  faith,  whence  is  to 
come  the  salvation  of  the  world  ?  Or,  if  there  be 
no  planting  and  watering  during  seed-time,  how 
can  there  be  a  harvest  ?  If  there  be  no  toiling 
and  enduring  and  paias-taking  to  lay  the  foundg^- 


12     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

tions,  what  important  results  need  to  be  looked 
for  ?  If  there  be  no  outgoings  of  faith  and  en- 
lightened views  and  liberality,  how  vain  is  it  to 
expect  those  ingatherings  over  which  angels  re- 
joice ? 

This  is,  manifestly,  the  teaching  of  the  text.  It 
seeks  to  magnify  the  "foundations."  It  declares 
that  no  permanent  good  can  be  accomplished  in 
this  world  by  any  agency  which  sets  aside  this 
fundamental  law  of  Divine  Providence — by  any 
efforts,  occasional  and  superficial  merely  in  their 
character — by  any  elements  not  living,  vital, 
radical,  eternal.  And  the  explanation  of  this,  fact 
is  to  be  found  in  the  nature  of  human  depravity, 
and  in  the  strength  of  those  laws  by  which  it 
perpetuates  itself  in  the  world.  And  here  lies  the 
secret  of  the  failure  of  so  much  individual  effort 
after  salvation  ;  and  the  failure  of  so  many  confi- 
dent schemes  for  reforming  mankind.  They  have 
no  ground-work^  and  therefore  cannot  succeed. 
They  have  "no  root  in  themselves,^'  nor  in  any 
living  and  regenerating  principles,  and  therefore 
must  quickly  wither  and  die. 

This  regard  for  the  "foundations"  is  one  of  the 
fixed  and  marked   laws  of  Divine  Providence. 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     13 

All  the  radical  arrangements  of  Providence  in  this 
world  are  made  with  reference  to  it.  And  all  the 
real  and  permanent  good  which  has  been  accom- 
plished in  it,  has  been  accomplished  in  obedience 
to  this  law.  The  study  of  Providence  with  refer- 
ence to  this  thought,  is  highly  instructive.  The 
Mind  that  shapes  and  controls  the  affairs  of  this 
world  is  most  manifestly  aiming  at  universal  and 
permanent  dominion  over  it.  If  Prophecy  were 
silent  on  the  subject,  we  should  still  say  with  con- 
fidence, judging  from  the  genius  and  history  of 
Providence,  that  Christianity  was  meant  to  be, 
and  must  ultimately  be,  the  religion  of  the  entire 
world.  There  is  nothing  temporary  or  superficial, 
hasty  or  impulsive  in  the  structure  or  operations 
of  this  system  of  truth  and  agencies.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  kingdom  of  Grod  on  earth  is  governed 
by  laws  that  are  fixed  and  fundamental  in  charac- 
ter ;  its  vitality  and  growth  are  the  vitality  and 
growth  of  principles  that  are  eternally  wise  and 
right, — principles  that  have  been  embedded  in  the 
sentiment  and  life  of  the  world,  by  long  ages  of 
toil  and  pains-taking,  and  from  time  to  time  made 
efficient  by  the  Providence  and  Spirit  of  G-od. 
That  vast  Temple  which  we  see  in  the  process  of 


14     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

erection  on  this  earthly  theatre  of  action,  has  its 
foundations  deep-laid  in  the  counsels  and  purposes 
of  G-od,  and  in  those  elements  which  are  most  vital, 
powerful  and  enduring  in  the  human  mind. 

When  sin  had  overthrown  the  kingdom  of  God 
in  this  lower  world,  and  had  effaced  his  very  image 
from  the  soul  of  man,  Grod  began  the  work  of  re- 
demption and  restoration  at  "  the  foundations." 
He  began  with  that  stupendous  sacrifice,  out  of 
and  far  above  humanity  itself,  which  will  never 
cease  to  be  the  wonder  of  his  creatures.  In  the 
death  of  Christ,  at  first  typified,  and  four  thou- 
sand years  after  accomplished,  he  laid  an  eternal 
basis  of  perfect  reconciliation,  and  secured  the 
agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  agency  is  essen- 
tial to  the  subjective  work  of  the  atonement.  He 
began  with  individual  man — with  the  fallen  pa- 
rents of  the  race.  In  that  blessed  promise  which 
he  gave  to  them  before  he  expelled  them  from 
Paradise,  (Gren.  iii.  15,)  was  contained  "  the  leaven" 
of  His  kingdom.  For  thousands  of  years  G-od 
wrought  patiently  ♦at  "  the  foundations."  The 
whole  Patriarchial  and  Mosaic  dispensations  are 
to  be  viewed  in  this  light.     The  former  prepared 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     15 

the  way  for  the  latter,  and  the  latter  for  the  intro- 
duction and  development  of  Christianity. 

Immense  preparatory  labor  was  necessary  in 
order  to  bring  Christianity  before  the  world  with 
any  rational  prospect  of  success.  The  growth  of 
any  religious  system  is  necessarily  slow.  And 
especially  must  this  be  true  of  such  a  sj^stem  as 
we  have  in  the  G-ospel,  —  a  system  so  eminently 
spiritual  and  holy.  Jesus  Christ  (and  the  same 
is  true  of  his  Apostles)  could  not  have  succeeded 
as  he  did,  had  not  the  foundations  of  his  doctrines 
been  long  and  laboriously  laid.  He  taught  no  new 
religion,  not  a  single  new  doctrine.  His  teachings 
were  but  the  fulfilment,  expansion  and  enforce- 
ment of  the  Jewish  Scriptures.  The  Jewish  The- 
ology was  the  groundwork  of  his  entire  teaching 
and  mission.  And  that  Theology,  imperfect*  as  it 
was,  it  took  four  thousand  years  to  establish  in  the 
belief  and  laws  of  a  single  nation,  and  mature 
sufficiently  to  engraft  upon  it  the  Christian  dispen- 
sation.    All  this  time  was  necessary,  and  all  that 

*  I  use  "  imperfect "  here  ia  the  sense  of  incomplete.  All  the 
principles  of  Christianity  were  embraced  in  it,  but  they  could  not 
be  fully  apprehended  or  have  their  perfect  development  until  Christ 
came. 


16  PLEA   FOR   THE    OLD   FOUNDATIONS. 

peculiar  and  wonderful  work  of  Providence,  of 
which  the  Old  Testament  is  the  outlined  history, 
in  the  judgment  of  Divine  Wisdom,  in  order  to  get 
fairly  established  in  the  human  mind,  and  in  the 
moral  sentimentsof  mankind,  those  religious  ideas, 
truths  and  principles  which  Christ  came  fully  to 
declare  and  make  universal.  The  foundations  of 
Christ's  kingdom  had  been  laid  before  his  advent, 
broad,  deep  and  living,  by  Patriarchs  and  by  Pro- 
phets,—  in  the  Jewish  Theology  and  Ritual,  —  in 
the  Hebrew  Theocracy,  existing  for  many  hundred 
years ;  in  the  diffusion  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures*  and 
learning  among  the  surrounding  nations  ;  in  bring- 
ing all  the  world  together  by  a  common  Language, 
and  that  by  far  the  most  cultivated  language  on 
earth,  and  making  it  the  medium  of  the  G-ospel's 
proclamation  ;  and  in  bringing  all  the  world  under 
one  Political  Power,  so  that  national  antipathies 
and  wars  should  not  hinder  the  rapid  spread  of 

*  It  will  be  recollected  that  the  entire  Old  Testament  had  ex- 
isted in  the  Greek  language,  then  the  universal  medium  of  culti- 
vated thought,  for  315  years  before  Christ  began  his  teachings  ; 
first  in  Egypt,  and  then  in  Greece,  — the  sources  and  centres  of 
ancient  civilization, — the  light  of  Judaism  had  been  struggling  for 
ages  with  the  darkness  and  corruption  of  the  human  miad. 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     17 

Christianity  when  once  its  peaceful  banner  was 
unfurled.* 

And,  if  we  study  the  history  of  the  Christian 
Church,  we  shall  find  that  all  real  progress  —  that 
every  permanent  conquest — has  been  the  slow  but 
sure  outgrowth  of  well-laid  "foundations."  When 
these  have  been  neglected,  little  has  been  gained. 
Where  this  fixed  law  of  Providence  has  been  dis- 
regarded, the  results  reached  have  been  meagre 
and  temporary.  All  the  great  movements  of  the 
religious  world  which  have  given  a  new  and  per- 
manent impulse  to  the  human  mind,  have  drawn 
their  life  and  power  from  deep  and  patiently-laid 
"  foundations." 

Take  the  Great  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth 
century  as  an  illustration.  A  superficial  student 
of  history  might  pronounce  that  greatest  revolu- 
tion of  modern  times  a  hasty,  impulsive,  and 
almost  miraculous  movement  ;  so  sudden  and 
wonderful  was  the  development.  "A  monk  ap- 
pears, and  in  the   half  of  Europe,"  the  power  and 

*  We  were  obliged  to  condense  an  important  and  extensive 
truth  here  into  a  few  words.  See  it  more  fully  stated  in  the 
American  Biblical  Repository,  Vol.  VI.,  Third  Series,  pp.  456- 
467. 


18     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

glory  of  that  Kingdom  which  had  for  centuries  lorded 
it  over  Grud's  heritage  and  over  human  liberty 
"speedily  crumbles  into  dust."  But  that  great  re- 
ligious movement  was,  in  its  origin,  far  from  being 
the  work. of  Luther.  The  matters  which  it  pressed 
to  an  issue  were  not  simply  the  supremacy  of  the 
Pope,  and  the  corruptions  and  abuses  of  the  Ro- 
mish Church,  but  the  grand  ideas  and  leading  truths 
of  universal  Christianity  ;  truths  that  were  vital 
to  human  freedom  and  progress,  and  to  the  eman- 
cipation of  the  Church  from  that  terrible  System 
which  had  so  long  enslaved  it  and  sucked  its  life's 
blood.  Had  it  been  a  simple  reform,  or  choice  of 
doctrines  —  a  movement  confined  to  the  surface  of 
things,  and  drawing  its  life  from  causes  local  and 
temporary — it  could  not  have  succeeded  ;  it  would 
have  been  strangled  in  its  birth ;  nay,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  eloquent  Historian*  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, •'  It  would  never  have  overpassed  the  thresh- 
old of  an  academy,  of  a  cloister,  or  even  of  a 
monk's  cell.  But  it  was  the  pouring  forth  anew 
of  that  life  which  Christianity  had  brought  into 
the  world.     It  was  the  triumph  of  the  noblest  of 

*  D'Aubigne. 


PLEA  FOR  THE   OLD   FOUNDATIONS.  19 

doctrines  —  of  that  which  animates  those  who  re- 
ceive it  with  the  purest  and  most  powerful  enthu- 
siasm—  the  doctrine  oi  faith, — the  doctrine  of 
grace.^^ 

The  monk  of  Wittemberg,  struggling  in  his  cell 
to  shake  ojEF  the  yoke  of  spiritual  bondage  and 
come  forth  into  the  liberty  of  the  Grospel,  wrestling 
in  fear  and  agony,  and  feeling  after  the  light 
through  a  dark  and  terrible  experience,  was  a  fit- 
ting representative  of  the  Church  of  his  day,  groan- 
ing under  the  enormous  burdens  which  a  corrupt 
faith  and  a  tyrannizing  priesthood  had  imposed,  and 
sighing  in  secret  places  for  the  light  and  liberty 
of  a  pure  Christianity.  "When  he  raised  a  cry  in 
central  Grermany,  it  went  straight  to  the  hearts  of 
millions,  and  thrilled  the  soul  of  Europe,  as  if  it 
had  been  a  resurrection  trumpet.  For  it  was  the 
cry  of  humanity,  long  enslaved  by  superstition  and 
priestly  power,  and  now  demanding  liberty  and 
Grod's  Word  ;  the  cry  of  a  burdened  conscience, 
weary  of  the  Church  and  longing  for  Christ,  fet- 
tered by  rites  and  traditions,  and  thirsting  for  a 
better  righteousness  and  a  higher  freedom  ;  the 
cry  of  a  human  soul  that  had  tasted  of  G-od's  for- 
giveness, had  attained  to  justification  by  faith  alone, 


20     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

had  partaken  of  the  pure  Word  of  Grod,  and  now  out 
of  the  abundance  of  the  heart  testified  of  what  he 
knew  and  felt  and  believed. 

There  were,  consequently,  multitudes  to  sym- 
pathize with  the  Reformer  the  moment  he  ap- 
peared. The  Reformation  had  already  taken  deep 
root.  God  had  long  been  at  work  laying  the 
"  foundations."  Causes  and  agencies  had  been 
silently  operating  for  centuries  which,  by  the  law 
of  progress,  rendered  the  Reformation  a  moral 
necessity.  God  had  awaked  the  human  mind 
from  the  slumber  of  the  Middle  Ages.  By  won- 
derful discoveries  he  had  afforded  to  the  Church 
facilities  for  giving  the  Truth  a  new  and  more 
permanent  life  in  the  world.  He  had  introduced 
the  Bible  into  the  living  languages  of  Europe,  and 
scattered  it  extensively  among  the  people.  He 
had,  by  the  silent  workings  of  His  Spirit,  infused 
the  elements  of  a  new  religious  life  into  number- 
less souls.  He  had  raised  up  men,  here  and  there, 
boldly  to  testify  to  the  truth  and  to  die  for  it.  A 
century  and  a  half  before  Luther'' s  advent,  Wick- 
liff,  in  England,  had  sown  broadcast  the  seed  of 
the  kingdom ;  and  a  half  century  later,  John 
Huss  had  preached  in  Bohemia  the  very  essence 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     21 

of  the  Christian  doctrine;  and  the  flames  of  his 
martyrdom  had  kindled  a  light  which  had  not 
gone  out  ;  and  his  prophetic  words,  heralding  the 
Reformation,  were  still  remembered. 

These  "foundations,"  when  Luther  began  the 
battle  with  Rome,  were  too  broadly,  and  deeply, 
and  permanently  laid,  to  be  overthrown  or  rooted 
out  by  any  kingly  or  priestly  power.  They  had 
grown  strong  and  vital,  until  they  were  quite  suf- 
ficient to  sustain  an  open  and  vigorous  stand 
against  that  vast  Politico-Ecclesiastical  Power 
which  ruled  and  cursed  the  earth — sufficient,  also, 
to  nourish  and  sustain  a  free,  and  a  pure  and 
spiritual  Christianity.  It  was  the  development  of 
this  religious  Revival  only  that  was  sudden  and 
rapid  ;  the  preparation  had  been  slowly  and  noise- 
lessly going  on  for  ages  deep  down  in  the  bosom 
of  the  Church  and  of  Society.  The  fusion  into  a 
permanent  Life  and  a  mighty  Power  was  quick  and 
wonderful  as  the  action  of  electric  forces ;  but  the 
elements  of  that  life  and  power  had  been  forming 
and  gathering  in  individual  minds  and  hearts  for 
a  long  period.  And  it  only  needed  the  bold  and 
earnest  voice  of  Luther,  appealing  to  men's  silent 
convictions  and  experiences — the  attraction  of  the 


22  PLEA   FOR  THE   OLD   FOUNDATIONS. 

central  doctrine  of  Christianity,  preached  with 
apostolic  simplicity  and  unction — to  bring  all 
these  quickened  elements  together,  and  make  them 
mighty  for  the  overthrow  of  the  rotten  institutions 
which  had  grown  out  of  the  Papal  Apostasy,  and 
for  the  regeneration  and  advancement  of  mankind. 

Hence,  too,  the  permanency  of  the  conquests 
then  made.  The  "foundations"  which  then  up- 
heaved the  religious  world,  and  brought  forth  a 
new  and  better  growth  of  Christian  doctrine  and 
life,  are  still  alive  and  active.  The  principles  of 
that  movement  are  as  vital  to-day  as  when  Luther 
thundered  them  from  the  pulpits  of  G-ermany. 
Three  centuries  have  not  sufficed  to  mature  all 
the  fruit  of  that  replanting  of  Christianity.  The 
real  conflict  of  our  day,  and  of  coming  ages,  is  to 
be  settled  on  the  battle-field  of  the  Reformation. 

Were  I  to  rehearse  to  you  the  history  of  more 
recent,  and  of  the  present  movements,  looking  to 
the  reformation  or  the  progress  of  our  race,  it 
would  only  go  to  prove  the  necessity  of  broad  and 
thoroughly- laid  "foundations" — foundations  reach- 
ing down  to  the  necessities  of  man's  moral  as  well 
as  his  social  nature,  and  instinct  with  the  light 
and  life  of  the  Grospel.     Could  the  history  of  every 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     23 

individual  conversio?i  to  God  be  furnished,  it 
would  doubtless  be  made  to  appear,  that  the  law 
of  Providence,  recognized  in  the  text,  is  a  uniform 
law  ;  the  Spirit  renewing  only  when  and  where 
the  ''foundations"  are  laid  and  kept  alive. 

Our  hope  for  the  world  to-day,  as  we  look  for- 
ward to  the  future,  rests  mainly  on  the  "  founda- 
tions" which  underlie  the  faith,  the  life,  and  the 
enterprise  of  the  Christian  Church,  rather  than 
on  the  existing  out-growth  or  development  of 
Christianity.  In  numbers  and  outward  strength 
the  Church  of  our  day  is  relatively  weak,  and 
seems  wholly  inadequate  to  the  mission  assigned 
her — the,  social  and  moral  regeneration  of  this 
world  by  means  of  the  simple  Gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ.  But  yet  no  other  power  on  earth,  we 
boldly  affirm,  has  such  broad,  thoroughly-laid, 
living  and  enduring  "foundations."  Providence 
has  been  busy  for  nearly  six  thousand  years  in 
forming  and  bringing  together  and  cementing  the 
materials  for,  and  embedding  the  massive  founda- 
tions thus  prepared,  in  the  Theology,  the  Litera- 
ture, the  Civilization,  the  Social  and  Political  Or- 
ganizations, and  in  all  the  vital  Influences  and 
Movements  of  the  world.  Christianity  has  had  time 


24     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIDNS. 

to  prove  itself,  by  actual  experiment,  t^  be  the  re- 
ligion of  universal  mankind — adapted  to  the  ne- 
cessities and  conditions  of  man  in  every  existing 
and  conceivable  state — having  in  it  all  the  ele- 
ments of  true  conservatism,  and  yet  of  reol  progress 
— able  to  grapple  single-handed  with  error  and  ini- 
quity and  evil  in  their  most  appalling  forms,  and 
work  a  peaceful  and  blessed  change — capable  of 
subsidizing  every  element  of  pov^er  and  progress, 
every  invention  and  improvement,  and  of  bending 
the  entire  enlightened  and  quickened  mind  and 
enterprise  of  the  world  to  the  furtherance  of  its 
one  simple  and  glorious  mission. 

What  broad,  and  living,  and  lasting  "  founda- 
tions'' has  Grod  prepared  for  the  righteous  of  this 
generation  !  The  Holy  Scriptures  have  given  a 
Christian  Theology  and  Literature  to  the  world. 
The  principles  of  Christianity  are  living,  vital,  and 
world-wide  elements  of  power.  The  sentiaients 
which  underlie  human  society  and  affect  it  in  its 
most  radical  elements  and  relations,  have  been 
slowly  but  really  moulded  into  essential  harmony 
with  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  In  the  establishment 
of  Constitutional  Laws — in  the  settled  principles 
of  Political  Economy  and  of  National  Intercourse 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     25 

— in  the  enlightened  Conscience,  the  Legislation 
and  Jurisprudence  of  the  world — in  the  social, 
educational,  and  religious  Institutions  of  Christen- 
dom— in  the  character,  position,  strength,  and  en- 
terprise of  Protestant  nations — in  the  infusion  of 
the  vital  Life  of  Christianity  into  the  bosom  of  the 
Reformed  Church — in  the  Missionary  Spirit  which 
the  revivals  of  the  last  century  have  called  into  be- 
ing, and  in  the  Missionary  Enterprise  of  the  present 
age,  which  is  fast  waking  the  Church  into  millen- 
nial life,  and  is  toiling  earnestly  and  successfully 
in  a  thousand  inviting  fields — and  in  those  won- 
derful movements  of  Providence  which  have  so 
signally  prepared  the  way  for  the  Grospel  in  almost 
every  land — in  all  these,  and  many  other  particu- 
lars, "  the  righteous"  have  foundations  prepared 
for  them  to  build  upon,  broad,  solid,  enduring, 
and  full  of  the  wisdom  and  power  of  God.  There 
needs  to  be  only  a  zeal  on  the  part  of  "  the  right- 
eous" adequate  to  the  existing  moral  state  of  the 
world,  and  a  faith  commensurate  with  the  power 
of  the  G-ospel  to  reform  and  save  it — there  needs 
to  be  only  an  earnest  application  and  a  Divine 
quickening  of  the  principles  of  Christian  doctrine 
and  life,  already  grounded  in  the  sentiments,  the 
2 


26     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

social  life  and  the  religious  institutions  and  agen- 
cies of  the  world,  in  order  to  secure  the  speedy 
regeneration  of  mankind,  and  the  universal  reign 
of  Christ  on  earth. 

There  are  three  fundamental  Agencies,  or  Ar- 
rangements, by  means  of  which  Divine  Providence 
seeks  to  build  and  preserve  "  the  foundations"  of 
moral  goodness  in  this  world.  These  are  the 
Family,  the  State,  and  the  Church.  They  sus- 
tain most  important  relations  to  each  other.  They 
underlie  all  that  is  worth  preserving,  and  all  that 
can  be  turned  to  good  account.  To  destroy,  or 
essentially  to  impair,  one  of  these  agencies  or  ar- 
rangements, is  to  thwart  the  Divine  purpose,  fight 
against  Providence,  shake  society  to  its  founda- 
tions, and  undermine  the  virtue,  and  piety,  and 
hope  of  the  world.  The  design  of  Providence  in 
originating  and  perpetuating  these  peculiar  ar- 
rangements, evidently  has  reference  to  the  pro- 
gress, triumph,  and  permanency  of  His  Kingdom 
among  men.  They  are  indeed  the  "foundations" 
which  Eternal  Wisdom  early  laid,  and  which 
Eternal  Providence  has  preserved  to  "  the  right- 
eous," amidst  all  the  revolutions  and  changes  of 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     27 

six  thousand  years;  and  we  do  well  to  watch 
them  with  jealous  vigilance,  and  not  suffer  the 
hand  of  the  destroyer  to  come  nigh  them.  They 
are  essential  to  the  world's  salvation. 

Let  us  examine  them  briefly  in  reference  to  this 
subject. — And, 

1.  The  Family  Arrangement. — Human  wis- 
dom would  never  have  hit  on  such  an  expedient ; 
and  human  depravity  has  ever  fought  against  it. 
It  is  a  wonderful  arrangement,  this  division  of  the 
whole  human  family  into  little  separate  communi- 
ties— every  community  a  little  government,  a  little 
world  by  itself — marriage  the  foundation,  affection 
the  bond,  and  Divine  authority  the  ruling  power. 
Such  an  arrangement,  simple  as  it  is,  touches  all 
the  elementary  and  radical  principles  of  human 
nature.  The  Family  power  is  the  fountain  of  all 
moral  influence  in  this  world.  "Without  such  an 
agency  religion  had  never  gained  a  footing  in 
it.  During  all  the  patriarchal  ages  the  Family 
alone  nursed  and  kept  alive  the  knowledge  and 
worship  of  the  one  God.  But  for  such  an  arrange- 
ment the  religion  of  the  Bible  could  not  have  sur- 
vived the  Flood — never  have  been  separated  from 


28     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

the  Polytheism  which  again  quickly  overspread  the 
earth,  and  secured  to  itself  a  righteous  seed  through 
the  line  of  the  "Father  of  the  faithful."  It  was 
the  Family  compact  that  first  gave  true  religion 
root  in  depraved  human  nature — which  secured 
"  the  covenant  of  promise  "  on  which  rests  the  en- 
tire fabric  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  among  men — 
which  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Jewish  State  and 
Church  and  of  the  Christian  dispensation,  and  gave 
a  Redeemer  to  the  world  !  "Without  such  an  ar- 
rangement and  agency,  not  one  of  all  these  things, 
so  essential  to  man's  Redemption,  could  have  been 
accomplished.  And  without  this  primitive  Agency 
at  the  fountain-head  of  moral  influence.  Society 
cannot  be  maintained  even  in  this  advanced  period 
of  human  development ;  universal  degeneracy  and 
corruption  would  inevitably  ensue  were  it  de- 
stroyed. In  the  sanctity  of  marriage  as  originally 
ordained  of  G-od  ;  in  the  strength  of  the  domestic 
affections  and  virtues ;  and  in  the  restraints  and 
training  of  a  well-ordered  Family,  are  the  radical, 
the  foundation-elements  of  all  human  happiness 
and  goodness. 

We  cannot  over-estimate  the  value  of  this  agency. 
"We  cannot  begin  to  tell  all  its  vital  bearings  on  the 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     29 

Kingdom  of  Christ.  It  takes  man  from  his  mother's 
breast  and  educates  him  for  life.  It  cradles  him 
amidst  ties  and  inflaences  the  strongest,  the  most 
subtle  and  powerful,  which  can  move  and  mould 
human  character.  It  gives  direction  to  the  mind, 
and  the  whole  after-life.  It  lays  scarcely-felt  yet 
all-powerful  restraints  upon  depravity.  It  accus- 
toms one  to  obedience.  It  forms  virtuous  habits. 
It  nurses  and  brings  to  maturity  all  the  good  quali- 
ties there  are  in  human  nature.  And,  when  its 
proper  place  is  given  to  religion  in  the  Family,  it 
becomes  a  direct  and  most  efficient  agency  for  sal- 
vation. God  loves  to  honor  this  normal  agency. 
The  converts  to  righteousness  in  the  earth  have 
mostly  been  from  the  members  of  well-governed, 
pious  families. 

Where  these  early  "  foundations  "  are  neglected, 
or  wrongly  laid,  what  can  even  "  the  righteous  do?" 
What  power  has  Society  to  restrain  or  reform,  or  the 
doctrines  and  institutions  of  Religion  to  teach  and 
to  regenerate,  the  children  of  an  ignorant,  vicious 
unrestrained,  disobedient  parentage  ?  If  you  would 
build  up  the  Kingdom  of  Christ,  my  brethren ;  if 
you  would  make  Society  pure,  compact,  and 
stable;    if  you   would  have  the   State  virtuous, 


30     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

thrifty  and  strong,  begin  with  these  "  foundations," 
Honor  the  Family  arrangement.  Sanctify  your 
household.  Rear  an  altar  to  intelligence,  to  vir- 
tue, and  to  G-od,  on  your  hearth-stone.  Sooner 
than  discard  or  neglect  Family  G-overnment  and 
Family  Religion,  discard  every  other  agency,  and 
throw  your  children  portionless  upon  the  world. 
If  you  fail  or  blunder  here,  after-anxieties  and  tears 
and  toils  will  most  likely  be  useless.  If  these 
"foundations"  are  not  patiently  and  thoroughly 
and  prayerfully  laid,  in  vain  will  you  invoke  the 
agency  of  Society  and  of  the  Church  to  save  your 
children  from  ruin.  There  is  no  other  agency 
which  can  possibly  supply  such  a  deficiency.  This 
prodigious  power  for  the  right  social  and  religious 
training  of  your  children — an  agency  beginning 
with  their  existence  and  spread  out  over  their  \a  hole 
life — Eternal  Providence  has  ordained  and  put  into 
your  hands,  and  you  only  are  responsible  for  its 
exercise.  No  man  can  take  that  power  from  you, 
lawfully ;  no  man  can  share  that  responsibility 
with  you. 

There  are  self-styled  reformers  abroad  in  the 
world  who  would  knock  away  these  old  and  tried 
"foundations,"  and  experiment  upon  human  na- 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     31 

ture.  They  are  wiser  than  Providence.  Their 
infidelity  attacks  this  great  social  Law  of  Virtue 
and  Christianity.  They  look  upon  the  Family 
arrangement  as  unwise,  inconvenient,  and  expen- 
sive, and  propose  new  and  more  extensive  and 
economical  associations  and  amalgamations.  But 
this  movement  is  one  of  the  devices  of  the  Devil 
for  the  overthrow  of  all  virtue  and  all  godliness  in 
the  world.  The  Family  Constitution  is  really  re- 
sponsible for  none  of  the  evils  which  afflict  Society. 
If  Society  is  so  corrupt,  so  oppressed  with  evil  and 
misery,  notwithstanding  this  wise  and  merciful 
arrangement,  these  deep-laid  and  living  founda- 
tions, what  would  it  be  without  them  ? 

It  is  a  shallow  and  miserable  Philosophy  which 
thus  seeks  to  tinker  man's  social  state.  It  is  a 
mad  and  embittered  infidelity,  which  would  thus 
destroy  the  "foundations  "  which  were  laid  of  God 
in  Fiden — and  laid  again  after  the  Flood — and  upon 
which  all  the  Prophets  stood — and  on  the  strength 
of  which  Christ  himself  was  born  into  the  world 
and  taught,  and  along  down  which  the  covenant 
mercy  of  G-od  has  flowed  from  Abraham  until  now. 
It  is  the  madness  and  malignity  of  infidelity  and 
depravity,  which  are  dealing  these  blows  at  the 


32  PLEA   FOR   THE    OLD    FOUNDATIONS. 

social  foundations,  whatever  disguise  the  Reform 
may  assume,  or  name  inscribe  on  its  banner.  It 
is  not  the  actual  evils  arising  from  the  Family 
state  which  provoke  this  social  movement,  but  the 
restraints  which  it  imposes.  Its  real  aim  and 
drift  are,  as  sound  reasoning  and  careful  observa- 
tion will  show,  to  break  down  the  law  of  marriage, 
and  give  unbridled  liberty  to  licentiousness. 

Not  only  should  such  a  movement  not  be  looked 
upon  with  indifference  or  the  slightest  favor  on  the 
part  of  "  the  righteous,"  but  the  deadliest  hostility 
should  be  shown  to  it,  and  the  note  of  warning 
raised  against  it.  We  are  not  beyond  all  danger 
from  this  source,  as  we  are  too  apt  to  assume.  For 
the  movement  originates  in  the  radical  and  uni- 
versal depravities  of  human  nature,  and  not  in  the 
shallow  conceits  of  an  unfledged  Philosophy.  There 
is  much  also  to  give  it  favor  with  the  ignorant, 
vicious,  and  dissatisfied  masses,  especially  with  our 
already  immense  and  rapidly  augmenting  foreign 
population.  Soon  too  there  will  be  knocking  at  the 
door  of  our  National  Confederacy  for  the  privilege 
and  power  of  State  Sovereignty,  a  populous  and 
wide-spread  Territory  whose  religious  system  is  a 
libel  on  reason,  and  legitimately  subversive  of  all 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUN'DATIONS.     33 

well-laid  foundations,  and  whose  social  state  is  in 
open  contravention  of  the  laws  of  the  Bible  and  of 
Providence  on  this  subject.  Let  us  forestall  legis- 
lative action  by  creating  a  right  moral  sentiment 
on  the  subject.  Let  us  rebuke  and  shame  out  of 
all  decent  Society,  the  men,  and  the  women  too, 
who,  under  various  names  of  reform  and  associa- 
tion, are  striving  to  spring  a  mine  under  our  do- 
mestic institutions.  Let  us  rally  anew  around  our 
Puritan,  nay,  our  Christian  hearth-stones — dear  to 
us  from  so  many  blessed  memories,  and  hallowed 
ties,  and  virtuous  and  godly  influences — and  swear 
by  all  that  is  lovely  in  virtue  and  sacred  in  religion 
and  good  in  the  past  and  bright  in  the  future,  to 
preserve  them,  untouched  and  unpolluted,  as  the 
God  of  nature  laid  them  in  the  beginning,  and  the 
God  of  providence  has  preserved  them  to  us  out  of 
the  wreck  of  the  Past. 

2.  We  pass  to  consider  the  State  as  one  of  the 
three  great  pillars  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  on 
earth.  I  have  not  space  to  discuss  any  of  the  po- 
litical aspects  of  this  question;  nor  any  of  the 
many  conflicting   theories   of   Civil    Government 

which  have  been  proposed.     Let  us  view  it  simply 
2* 


34     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

in  the  light  of  Scripture,  and  in  its  moral  and  reli- 
gious relations. 

All  Civil  Government  derives  its  authority  from 
God.  The  warrant  for  it,  and  the  nature  and  de- 
sign of  it,  are  clearly  given  in  Romans  xiii.  1 — 7, 
to  specify  no  other  passages  : — "  Let  every  soul  be 
3ubject  unto  the  higher  powers.  For  there  is  no 
power  but  of  God  :  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained 
of  God.  Whosoever  therefore  resisteth  the  power, 
resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God  :  and  they  that  re- 
sist shall  receive  to  themselves  damnation.  For 
rulers  are  not  a  terror  to  good  works,  but  to  the 
evil.  Wilt  thou  then  not  be  afraid  of  the  power  ? 
do  that  which  is  good,  and  thou  shalt  have  praise 
of  the  same  ;  for  he  is  the  minister  of  God  to  thee 
for  good.  But  if  thou  do  that  which  is  evil,  be 
afraid  ;  for  he  beareth  not  the  sword  in  vain :  for  he 
is  the  minister  of  God,  a  revenger  to  execute  wrath 
upon  him  that  doeth  evil.  Wherefore  ye  must 
needs  be  subject,  not  only  for  wrath,  but  also  for 
conscience'  sake.  For,  for  this  cause  pay  ye  tri- 
bute also  :  for  they  are  God's  ministers,  attending 
continually  upon  this  very  thing.  Render  there- 
fore to  all  their  dues;  tribute  to  whom  tribute  is 
due  ;  custom  to  whom  custom  ;  fear  to  whom  fear, 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     85 

honor  to  whom  honor." — This  language  is  decisive 
and  full.  There  is  no  getting  away  from  the  prin- 
ciples here  laid  down  ;  and  they  cover  the  whole 
ground  I  propose  to  discuss. 

The  Civil  Constitution  is  as  really  the  ordinance 
of  God  as  the  Family  or  the  Church.  It  sustains 
the  same  relations  to  God  and  to  his  kingdom  on 
earth.  It  is  ordained  for  the  same  wise  and  holy 
end.  It  is  upheld  throughout  the  world  by  Divine 
Providence  for  moral  and  religious  purposes.  It 
is  often  abused  and  perverted  ;  so  is  the  Family 
power  and  the  Church  power :  but  the  principle, 
the  institution,  is  of  God,  nevertheless.  And  bad 
as  most  Civil  Governments  are-,  and  imperfect  as 
they  all  are,  they  are  still  infinitely  better  than 
no  governments.  They  are  a  protection ;  they 
keep  alive  in  the  world  the  principle  of  authority 
and  subordination ;  they  operate  as  restraints  on 
selfishness  and  depravity ;  they  are  bonds  of  union  ; 
they  are  a  terror  to  evil-doers ;  and  they  help  to  lay 
foundations  for  the  righteous.  The  very  worst 
Government  in  the  world  is  unquestionably  a 
blessing,  in  this  sense  ;  and  if  it  cannot  be  essen- 
tially improved,  by  all  means  it  had  better  be  sus- 
tained.    The  overthrow  of  the  Civil  Government 


36     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

in  France,  in  the  last  century,  was  the  overthrow 
of  all  order,  all  virtue  and  religion,  and  the  signal 
for  a  terrible  baptism  of  crime  and  blood.  The 
rule  of  the  Turk,  and  the  iron  despotism  of  the 
Czar,  is  better  far  than  a  state  of  anarchy.  The 
worst  form  of  misrule  which  human  depravity 
ever  invented  is  preferable  to  no  rule.  The  climax 
of  hell's  misery  is  the  prevalence  of  universal  an- 
archy ;  no  law — no  restraint — no  bond  ;  depravity 
raging  eternally,  unchecked  ;  and  every  fiend  let 
loose  to  torment  and  do  evil  at  his  pleasure. 

We  do  not  fully  appreciate  Civil  G-overnment  as 
one  of  the  great  pillars  of  God's  throne  in  this  re- 
bellious, disordered,  and  depraved  world.  We  do 
not  always  see  the  intimate  and  essential  relations 
which,  by  Divine  appointment,  it  is  made  to  sus- 
tain to  the  Redeemer's  Kingdom,  nor  feel  the  obli- 
gations which  Society  and  Religion  are  under  to  it. 
If  "  the  foundations"  laid  by  this  arrangement  for 
social  union  and  government  be  •'  destroyed,  what 
can  the  righteous  do  ?"  Individual  rights,  and 
family  order,  and  religious  institutions,  could  not 
be  maintained.  The  Grospel  would  find  no  basis  in 
the  human  soul — in  public  sentiment — in  estab- 
lished laws — in  social  influence,  and  would  fall  to 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     37 

the  ground.  The  existence  of  the  Christian  Church 
could  not  be  preserved,  for  any  length  of  time,  in 
the  purest  community  on  earth,  without  the  con- 
current support  of  Civil  Grovernment. 

Without  this  foundation  Religion  had  never  been 
established  among  the  nations  of  the  world.  The 
Hebrew  State  was  the  right  arm  of  the  Hebrew 
Faith  and  Church,  and  performed  a  great  and 
necessary  work  in  introducing  Christianity  into  the 
world  as  a  matured  and  compact  Power.  The  foun- 
dations of  the  Messiah's  throne  were  laid  in  the 
Jewish  Theocracy  and  Kingly  office.  It  was  ne- 
cessary to  the  evolvement  and  firm  establishment 
of  the  Divine  Plan  of  human  redemption,  that  G-od 
should  take  into  his  own  hands  the  reins  of  Civil 
Government — should  single  out  one  righteous  fam- 
ily and  keep  it  distinct  from  the  rest  of  mankind, 
and  increase  it  into  a  nation — and  then  should 
raise  an  impassable  wall  of  separation  between  the 
Israelites  and  their  idolatrous  neighbors — become 
himself  the  Head  of  that  Commonwealth,  give  it 
laws,  and  administer  them  for  many  hundred 
years  —  and  thus  not  only  preserve  the  infant 
Church  from  the  corraptions  of  a  world-wide  Poly- 
theism, and  lay  deep  and  broad  and  enduring  foun- 


38  PLEA   FOR  THE   OLD   FOUNDATIONS. 

dations  for  the  Jewish  Theology,  but  at  the  same 
time  give  being  and  power  on  earth  to  those  eter- 
nal principles  of  justice  and  wisdom  which  un- 
derlie all  rightful  authority  and  government,  and 
identify  those  principles  with  the  Christian  faith 
and  life,  and  the  world's  hope  of  Redemption.* 

*  "We  had  not  time  to  do  justice  to  the  important  truth  condensed 
here  into  a  single  paragraph.  It  is  worthy  of  study  and  expan- 
sion. Prof.  Wines  has  written  ably  and  satisfactorily  on  this  sub- 
ject in  Biblical  Repository,  vol.  vi.,  Third  Series,  and  also  in  his 
recent  work  on  the  Laws  of  the  Ancient  Hebreios.  Two  or  three 
brief  quotations  must  sufiSce. 

'•'  What  was  the  proper  province  of  the  Hebrew  Theocracy  ? 
What  its  leading  objects?  They  are  chiefly  two.  One  was  to 
teach  mankind  the  true  science  of  civil  government.  And  how 
well  does  it  correspond  with  the  goodness  of  God  in  other  respects, 
that  he  should  make  a  special  revelation  on  this  subject !  We  hold 
it  to  have  been  an  important  part  of  the  legislation  of  the  Most 
High,  as  the  lawgiver,  judge  and  ruler  of  Israel,  to  show  how  civil 
authority  should  be  created,  and  how  it  should  be  administered  so 
as  best  to  promote  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  a  nation  ;  and  also 
how  the  relations  between  rulers  and  ruled  should  be  adjusted 
and  regulated.  But  another,  and,  we  are  persuaded,  the  leading 
object  of  the  theocratic  feature  of  the  Hebrew  government,  was 
the  overthrow  and  extirpation  of  idolatry.  The  design  was  to 
make  idolatry  a  crime  against  the  State,  so  that  it  might  be  pun- 
ishable by  the  civil  law  without  a  violation  of  civil  liberty.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  a  fundamental  purpose  of  the  Mosaic  Polity 
was  the  abolition  of  idolatrous  worship,  and  the  substitution  in  its 
place  and  maintenance  of  true  religion  in  the  world.  And  the 
only  adequate  agency  to  the  production  of  this  result,  so  far  as 
human  wisdom  can  see,  was  this  very  institution  of  the  Jewish 
Theocracy.    *****    idolatry  had  now  reached  its  most 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     39 

The  Christian  then,  more  than  any  other  man, 
has  an  interest  at  stake  in  the  State.  It  touches 
his  religious  faith  and  hope  as  vitally  as  it  does 
his  person  and  property.  He  owes  to  it  as  sacred 
a  duty  as  he  owes  to  the  Church.  He  cannot  fail 
to  be  a  true  and  earnest  patriot,  and  not  endanger 
his  soul  and  sin  against  Jesus  Christ.  He  cannot 
afford  to  have  these  "foundations"  destroyed,  or 
''  daubed  with  untempered  mortar."  Religion 
has  nothing  to  gain,  but  every  thing  to  lose,  by  the 
overthrow  or  weakening  of  Civil  G-overnment.  A 
blow  aimed  here,  whatever  the  intention  be,  is  a 

gigantic  height,  and  spread  its  broad  and  deadly  shadow  over  the 
earth.  To  preserve  the  doctrine  of  the  Unity,  in  the  midst  of  a 
polytheistic  world,  was  the  fundamental  design  of  the  Mosaic 
Polity.  *  *  *  *  t  One  God  only  shalt  thou  serve,'  was  the 
first  great  principle  of  the  Hebrew  Polity.  To  the  end  that  this 
fundamental  truth  of  religion  might  become  a  vital  element  of 
Hebrew  thought,  faith  and  mannei's,  the  one  true  God  became  also 
■the  covenanted  King  and  Civil  Head  of  the  Hebrew  State.  Viewed 
as  to  a  main  design  of  it,  then,  the  Theocracy  was  a  Divine  insti- 
tution, employed  the  more  efifectually  to  supplant  idolatry,  with- 
out a  violation  of  that  precious  principle  of  civil  liberty,  that 
mere  opinions,  whether  theological,  ethical,  or  political,  were  not 
to  be  cramped  and  restrained  by  the  pains  and  jienalties  of  the 
civil  law.  *  *  *  *  It  is  perfectly  evident  from  the  history  Of 
the  Israelites,  that  their  entire  isolation  from  other  nations  was 
the  only  means,  save  a  miraculous  control  of  their  understanding 
and  will,  of  abolishing  idolatry  among  them.'" — pp.  579,  580,  581, 
585,  59L 


40     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

blow  aimed  at  the  very  foundations  of  virtue  and 
godliness  in  the  world,  nay,  at  Grod  himself  and 
his  throne. 

0  what  a  faithful  citizen  ought  every  Christian 
to  be  !  How  earnestly  ought  he  to  strive  and  pray 
for  the  welfare  of  the  State,  which,  in  the  place  of 
Grod,  holds  over  him  the  gegis  of  Law,  and  plants 
for  him  foundations  of  personal  safety  and  rights, 
and  of  social  power  and  religious  freedom! 

3.  The  Christian  Church  is  the  third  and  final 
grand  agency  for  the  regeneration  and  salvation  of 
mankind.  This  is  a  strictly  moral  and  spiritual 
power.  "My  Kingdom,"  says  Christ,  "is  not  of 
this  world."  It  is  a  ^''Kingdom''''  nevertheless — a 
Kingdom  distinct  from  the  State  and  allied  to  no 
earthly  power  —  a  Kingdom  having  a  real  and 
living  Head,  and  well-defined  and  established 
laws  —  a  Kingdom  fitted  to  man's  spiritual  na- 
ture, and  guarding  and  promoting  his  spiritual 
interests — and  this  it  is  that  gives  it  vitality  and 
power.  It  is  a  matured  and  living  and  adminis- 
tered System  of  moral  agencies,  instinct  with  the 
wisdom  and  power  of  Grod,  whose  peculiar  mis- 
sion it  is  to  produce  and  gather  into  one  all  the 


PLEA   FOR   THE    OLD   FOUNDATIONS.  41 

sanctified  elements  there  are  in  the  world,  and  give 
them  effect  for  its  salvation. 

From  the  peculiar  structure  of  the  Christian 
Church,  it  is  an  agency  of  prodigious  power.  It  is 
made,  in  the  providence  of  God,  to  subordinate  all 
other  agencies  and  arrangements.  It  wields  all 
the  elements  of  a  Supernatural  and  Divine  spiritual 
power'.  It  is  the  depositary  and  the  expounder  of 
the  Oracles  of  Gfod.  Its  Sabbath,  its  Sanctuaries, 
its  Ministry,  its  public  Teachings,  its  various  educa- 
tional and  religious  Institutions,  bring  it  into  close 
and  living  contact  with  mankind  in  every  relation 
and  department  of  life,  and  make  the  pressure  of  its 
agency  steady,  wide-spread  and  powerful.  Build- 
ing on  "  foundations"  laid  in  man's  moral  nature,  in 
the  family  arrangement,  and  by  the  help  of  Civil 
Government — on  foundations  which  almost  six 
thousand  -  years  have  only  served  to  widen,  and 
strengthen,  and  sink  lower  down  in  the  intelligence, 
and  conscience,  and  manners  of  the  world,  and 
make  stable  and  vital  for  good — there  is  no  limit 
to  the  power  of  this  agency,  especially  when  itself 
is  subordinate  to  the  purpose  of  God's  redeeming 
mercy,  and  made  a  quickening,  and  regenerating, 
and  reconstructing  power  by  the  direct  agency  of 
the  Holy  Spirit. 


42  PLEA   FOR  THE   OLD   FOUNDATIONS. 

The  unsanotified  world  little  feels  its  obligations 
to  the  Church  as  the  chief  reformatory  and  regen- 
erative agency  at  work  upon  our  degenerate  and 
fallen  race.  But  for  her  existence  and  agency,  the 
light  of  knowledge  would  go  out,  the  fountains  of 
virtue  would  cease  to  flow,  human  nature  would 
slide  backward  by  a  perpetual  backsliding,  all  the 
elements  of  life  and  prosperity  would  decay,  so- 
ciety would  become  a  mass  of  moral  putrefaction, 
and  the  world  would  crumble  into  ruin. 

Jesus  Christ  uttered  a  profound  truth,  but  one, 
alas,  which  men  are  slow  to  learn, when  he  affirmed 
of  his  own  disciples:  "Ye  are  the  light  of  the 
world — Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth."  Yes,  the 
G-ospel  of  the  grace  of  G-od,  and  not  the  theories 
of  transcendental  dreamers,  or  the  experiments  of 
social  philosophers,  is  the  sovereign  remedy  for  the 
disorders  of  the  human  race  ;  the  reforming  agent 
on  which  the  hopes  of  the  world  rely.  No  power 
but  that  of  the  G-ospel  can  pluck  up  the  roots  of 
Satan's  tyranny  from  the  inmost  soul  of  man,  and 
overthrow  the  despotism  of  sin  in  the  world.  All 
reforms  which  do  not  "lay  the  axe  to  the  root  of 
the  tree,"  and  assail  depravity  in  the  stronghold 
of  the  human  heart,  are  deceptive,  superficial  and 
transitory  reforms.     "  The  power  that  is  to  change 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     43 

the  face  of  the  earth  and  the  history  of  the  race, 
is  not  an  army,  not  a  fleet,  not  a  treasury,"  not  a 
new  organization  of  society,  not  the  avatar  of  polit- 
ical liberty,  "but  a  word  of  salvation — something 
of  the  mind  and  for  the  mind — and  it  is  a  Spirit 
renewing  and  sanctifying — the  creative  Spirit  come 
down  to  rear  again  and  to  restore  our  fallen  spirits." 
And  the  Christian  Church  is  G-od's  own  appointed 
and  perpetuated  Agency  to  give  this  "  word  of  sal- 
vation" effect — the  channel  through  which  the 
new-creating  Spirit  flows  down  to  man  and  flows 
out  over  the  world. 

The  thousand-and-one  experiments  which  Phi- 
losophy and  Civil  Grovernment  have  made  from 
time  to  time,  to  reform  mankind  and  elevate  the 
world,  on  other  foundations  than  those  laid  in  the 
Grospel,  and  by  means  of  worldly  devices  instead 
of  the  simple  spiritual  agency  chosen  of  God,  have 
proved  signal  failures.  Not  a  solitary  exception 
can  be  named  in  the  entire  history  of  the  race.  It 
is  Christianity  through  the  agency  of  the  Church, 
and  Christianity  alone,  that  can  point  to  a  bright 
past  —  to  actual  and  permanent  reformations 
achieved  —  to  moral  wildernesses  reclaimed  and 
made  fruitful — to  communities  lifted  from  social 
and  moral  degradation  into  respectability  and  vir- 


44     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

tue  and  thrift — to  whole  nations,  as  recently  at  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  emancipated  from  ignorance  and 
superstition,  idolatry  and  social  ruin,  and  made 
free  and  intelligent,  and  renewed  and  made  virtu- 
ous and  happy — to  peoples  and  States  arrested  in 
the  career  of  deterioration  and  decay,  and  quick- 
ened into  life,  and  made  vigorous  and  prosperous, 
— Christianity  alone,  I  say,  of  all  the  reforming 
agents  which  mankind  have  ever  tried,  can  point 
to  such  achieved  results  as  the  pledges  of  future 
conquests. 

The  world  is  full  of  reformers  in  our  day,  made 
not  a  whit  wiser  by  the  sad  failures  of  all  human 
philosophies  and  theories  to  make  men  better — 
nor  convinced  by  the  splendid  career  of  G-od's  own 
reforming  agency.  "Reform,"  "Regeneration," 
"  Progress,"  are  inscribed  on  a  thousand  banners, 
and  the  masses  are  upheaved,  and  society  is  shaken 
and  agitated  by  the  universal  movement.  But  0, 
the  blindness  and  stupidity  of  the  human  heart, 
and  the  deceitful  power  of  sin  !  The  world  has  not 
learned  one  lesson  from  all  the  past.  It  has  no 
faith  at  this  late  day  in  the  G-ospel  as  the  grand 
reforming  and  progressive  agent  of  universal  man- 
kind. It  sneers  at  the  "foundations"  laid  of  old 
in  Zion,  and  so  often  made  mighty  through  God 


PLEA  FOR   THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     45 

both  to  overthrow  and  to  rebuild.  In  the  madness 
of  its  folly  it  would  even  drive  the  ploughshare  of 
a  perfect  and  perpetual  ruin  through  these  Ciod- 
laid,  time-hallowed,  and  thoroughly-proved  "  foun- 
dations," and  begin  to  build  anew,  on  the  dreams, 
or  crude  and  shallow  speculations  of  a  conceited 
and  already  exploded  Philosophy.  I  much  fear, 
for  one,  from  many  of  the  movements  of  the  day, 
that  Providence  sees  occasion  for  one  grand  experi- 
ment of  this  sort  more,  to  be  made  on  a  broader 
and  more  conspicuous  theatre  than  any  yet  made, 
and  to  draw  after  it  a  ruin  so  great  and  severe  as 
to  appall  the  world,  and  force  upon  its  stupidity 
the  lessons  of  wisdom. 

This  aspect  of  the  times  certainly  is  not  with- 
out danger.  Shame  on  the  rjien  bearing  the  name 
of,  Christian  and  belonging  to  the  Christian  Church, 
who  can  fellowship  in  any  way  a  movement  so 
radically  infidel  in  all  its  affinities  and  tendencies  ; 
who  are  ready  to  forsake  these  old  and  living  and 
enduring  "foundations,"  laid  by  patriarchs  and 
prophets,  apostles  and  martyrs,  and  cemented  by 
the  blood  of  the  world's  Redeemer,  and  honored  in 
achieving  all  of  good  there  is  in  the  world,  for 
new  and  untried,  superficial  and  crazy  foundations. 
But  so  it  is.      The   numerous    Fraternities  and 


46     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

Secret  Societies'^  which  are  springing  up  all  over 
the  country,  innocent  and  good  in  their  design  as 
they  are  made  to  appear  to  the  many  who  are 
drawn  into  them,  are  yet  deadly  hostile  to  the 
Kingdom  of  G-od  :  they  are  meant  by  their  design- 
ers and  guiding  spirits,  and  their  practical  tend- 
ency is,  to  uproot  and  supplant  the  Christian 
Church. 

I  hazard  nothing  in  the  remark,  that  Christian- 
ity— Christianity  as  bodied  forth  to  man  in  the 
doctrines  and  life  of  the  Reformed  Evangelical 
Church — contains  in  itself  all  the  living  and  active 
elements  of  true  reformation  and  real  progress 
there  are  in  the  world  to-day.  Look  without  the 
circle  of  this  Power,  and  show  mc,  if  you  can,  one 
sign  of  any  regenerating  or  quickened  movement. 
Jt  is  a  stubborn  fact,  which  no  careful  student  of 
history  will  question,  that  human  nature,  wherever 
left  to  itself,  is  in  the  process  of  a  universal  deteri- 
oration ;  it  has  been  deteriorating  steadily  and 
constantly  for  nearly  two  thousand  years.       The 

*  Many  of  these  Associations  embrace  a  far  larger  membership, 
and  greater  resources,  than  the  public  are  at  all  aware  of.  From 
the  Annual  Report  of  the  fraternity  of  Odd  Fellows  in  the  United 
States,  for  1852,  it  ai>pears  that  this  Society  alone  numbers  193,298 
members;  and  its  receipts  for  that  year  were  $1,164:, 331.  la 
1853  its  contributing  members  numbered  193,040,  and  its  revenue 
amounted  to  $1,209,259. 


PLEA   FOR  THE    OLD  FOUNDATIONS.  47 

"golden  age"  of  the  human  mind,  unenlightened 
by  Revelation,  and  of  human  society,  unblestwith 
the  Gospel,  is  far  back  in  the  Past.  Where  are 
the  learning  and  the  civilization  of  Antiquity  ? 
The  once  splendid  and  powerful  Literature  of 
Egypt,  Greece,  and  Rome,  has  long  been  a  dead 
literature,  accessible  only  to  the  curious  and  the 
learned  in  libraries.  The  Old  World  shows  every- 
where the  traces  of  a  civilization,  a  prosperity,  and 
a  greatness  which  have  long  since  decayed  and 
past  away.  The  entire  unchristianized  world,  since 
the  advent  of  Jesus  Christ,  has  gone  backward  and 
not  forward,  and  very  decidedly.  Not  the  advanced 
and  wide-spread  Grecian  civilization,  united  with 
Roman  pov/er  and  conquest,  was  able  to  arrest  the 
downward  tendency  of  human  nature,  or  implant 
in  it  so  much  as  one  principle  of  enduring  vitality. 
And  but  for  the  light  and  life  of  Christianity,  shed 
on  a  portion  of  the  race,  one  universal  night  of 
degeneracy  and  hopeless  ruin  had  rested  on  the 
world  to-day.  Not  a  single  system  of  thought, 
faith,  or  life,  which  the  master-minds  of  Heathen 
Antiquity  originated,  has  retained  any  of  its  origi- 
nal vigor  and  life;  and  nearly  all  of  them,  with 
their  authors  and  trophies,  lie  entombed  with  the 
dead  of  many  gerierations. 


48  PLEA   FOR   THE   OLD   FOUNDATIONS. 

But  Christianity,  although  older  than  any  of 
these  systems,  points  to  an  ever-brightening  Future 
as  the  goal  of  hope  and  progress.  Its  "golden 
age" — its  millennial  period — is  yet  to  come.  We 
have  had  only  the  dawn  ;  -we  are  to  have,  in  time, 
the  perfect  day.  Christianity  stands  up  amid  the 
living  lights  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  eclipses 
them  all  by  the  power  and  splendor  of  her  doc- 
trines and  triumphs.  It  walks  forth  amid  the 
stirring  realities  of  the  world  to-day,  not  a  decrepit 
and  decayed  Faith,  but  young  as  ever,  and  strong 
and  firm  in  its  tread,  still  pressing  forward  in  the 
race  over  the  ruins  of  all  other  systems — the  Truth 
evermore,  "for  its  years  are  eternal — and  in  its 
origin  as  old  as  G-od,  it  can  no  more  become  obso- 
lete than  can  He,  the  Unchangeable  and  the  Ever- 
lasting." 

Such  "  foundations,"  "  tried  and  precious,"  has 
God  laid  for  "the  righteous"  in  this  evil  world. 
While  they  are  preserved  to  us,  there  is  hope  for 
mankind.  Looking  to  them,  and  building  upon 
them,  we  shall  not  live  or  labor  in  vain. 


PART  II. -HISTORICAL. 


Having  thus  laid  our  "foundations"  in  the  doc- 
trine of  "  the  everlasting  G-ospel,"  let  us  pass  to  the 
Historical  part  of  the  subject,  as  furnishing  an  apt 
and  instructive  illustration  of  the  sentiment  taught 
in  the  Scripture  we  have  discussed. 

The  founders  of  this  Church  were  wise  and  godly 
men.  They  recognized  the  great  law  of  Providence 
which  I  have  thus  unfolded,  and  acted  in  obedience 
to  it.  They  were  not  men  of  mere  impulses,  or  of 
superficial  views,  or  of  contracted  principles,  or  of 
feeble  faith.  They  took  a  broad  and  Christian 
view  of  things,  and  of  their  duty. 

They  began  with   the  "foundations."      They 

toiled  away  at  these  with  great  patience  and  zeal 

and   sacrifice,  and    consecrated  them  with  much 

fervent  prayer.     They  laid  them  deep  and  strong, 

and  broad  enough   for  half   a  century's  growth. 

They  rested  their  hope  for  themselves  and   their 

children,  on  the  pure  and  perpetuated  faith  of  the 

Gospel — on  a  wise  and    liberal  provision  for  the 

public  worship  of  God,  and  the  maintenance  and 
3 


50     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

growth  of  the  institutions  of  religion.  These 
massive  walls,  hewn  out  of  the  rock  and  shaped 
by  great  labor — of  dimensions  so  ample  for  that 
period — laid  with  such  breadth  and  strength  as 
almost  to  defy  the  hand  of  the  destroyer — and 
modelled  and  finished  in  a  style  of  architectural 
beauty,  in  advance  of  the  rural  taste  and  enter- 
prise of  that  age — these  ivalls,  I  say,  speak  to-day 
with  a  living  voice,  of  your  fathers'  wisdom  and 
piety,  and  symbolize  the  breadth  and  energy  of 
their  faith. 

The  "foundations"  thus  early  and  thoroughly 
laid  in  this  community,  have  already  brought  forth 
great  and  blessed  results.  The  History  of  this 
Church — the  fruit  of  a  little  more  than  fifty  years' 
bearing — furnishes  another  signal  proof  of  God's 
"covenant  faithfulness,"  and  a  most  instructive 
and  joyful  illustration  of  the  law  of  Providence, 
that  good  "foundations,"  vital  with  G-ospel  prin- 
ciples and  life,  are  immensely  productive  of  real 
and  permanent  prosperity.  Let  this  history  and 
these  results,  so  far  forth  as  I  have  time  to  spread 
them  before  you,  speak  in  the  ears  of  this  great 
multitude  here  gathered  to  participate  in  these 
services.     I  count  it  a  great  privilege  to  stand  up 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     5L 

before  you  to-day  on  these  now  venerable  and 
historical  foundations — on  such  an  occasion  of 
solemn  interest,  and  which  inaugurates  I  trust  a 
career  of  enlarged  usefulness — amid  such  an  as- 
semblage of  hallowed  memories  as  this  scene 
awakens  in  your  hearts — with  so  bright  a  Past 
smiling  upon  and  so  hopeful  a  Future  opening  be- 
fore us  — and  with  the  conscious  presence  of  hun- 
dreds of  glorified  saints,  here  born  anew  and 
trained  for  heaven,  hovering  over  this  favored 
Sanctuary,  and  fully  sympathizing  in  your  feelings 
of  gratitude  and  rejoicing, — I  am  most  happy  to 
stand  up  here  to-day  and  rehearse  what  God  the 
Lord  hath  wrought  by  means  of  these  "  foun- 
dations." 

I.  The  early  History  of  this  Church. 

Bloomfield  was  early  settled  by  a  part  of  the 
colony  of  New  Englanders  which  founded  Newark. 
Newark's  history  goes  back  to  May,  1666,  forty-six 
years  after  the  landing  of  our  Pilgrim  Fathers  on 
Plymouth  Rock,  and  two  years  after  the  settlement 
of  Elizabethtoivn^y^\\\Gh.  was  the  first  E  nglish  colony 
planted  this  side  of  the  Hudson.  Its  settlers  emi- 
grated from  Guilford^  Branford,  Milford  and  Neiv 


62     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

Haven,  Connecticut.  You  come  therefore  from  Pu- 
ritan ancestors.  This  fair  and  flourishing  region  of 
East  Jerseywas  mainly  reclaimed  from  its  wilder- 
ness state  by  Puritan  enterprise,  and  was  early 
planted  with  Puritan  principles.  The  original 
foundations  of  Christ's  Kingdom  here,  and  of  the 
intelligence  and  thrift  of  the  people,  were  floated 
over  the  ocean  in  the  faith  and  principles  of  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  and  embodied  the  choicest 
principles,  and  most  vigorous  life,  of  the  glorious 
Reformation  of  the  century  which  preceded  their 
advent. 

The  materials  out  of  which  this  Church  and 
Congregation  were  formed,  originally  belonged  to 
the  first  Presbyterian  churches  of  Newark  and 
Orange.  More  than  a  century  must  have  elapsed 
after  the  settlement  of  Bloomfield  before  it  had  a 
church  of  its  own.  During  all  this  time  the  people 
had  to  worship  G-od  in  those  distant  sanctuaries, 
if  they  worshipped  Him  at  all ;  and  this  fact  may 
account  for  the  slow  growth  of  Bloomfield  for  that 
long  period. 

The  incipient  measures  for  the  organization  of 
a  separate  Congregation  and  Church  in  Bloomfield 
were  taken  early  in  the  year  1794,  by  the  members 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     53 

of  the  above-named  churches  resident  here.  The 
Presbytery  of  Neiv  York  then  extended  over  all 
Southern  New  York,  and  all  this  part  of  New 
Jersey,  and  the  matter  was  carried  up  before  that 
body,  at  their  meeting  in  May  of  that  year,  for 
advice  and  action.  Presbytery  favored  the  move- 
ment, and  appointed  a  committee  to  confer  with  a 
committee  from  the  churches  of  Newark  and 
Orange,  in  reference  to  the  matter.  The  meeting 
of  these  joint  committees  was  held  on  the  16th  of 
June  following,  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Joseph  Davis, 
in  this  village,  and  was  opened  with  a  sermon  by 
Dr.  Rogers,  then  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  city  of  New  York.  After  prayer 
for  direction  from  God,  and  conference,  a  Petition 
was  presented  to  the  Committee  of  Presbytery, 
signed  by  no  less  than  ninety-eight  heads  of  fami- 
lies, requesting  to  be  formally  organized  into  a  dis" 
tinct  Congregation,  and  to  take  the  name  of  the 
Third  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  township  of 
Newark.*     Why  the  Congregation  was  not  organ- 

*  What  now  forms  the  townships  of  Orange  and  Bloomfield  was 
then  a  part  of  Newark  township.  The  First  Church  of  Newark,  and 
the  First  Church  of  what  is  now  Orange,  are  much  older  than  this. 
The  Congregation,  however,  never  seems  to  have  adopted  this 
name.    It  bore  for  a  short  time  the  name  of  Wardsesson,  a  cor 


54  PLEA   FOR  THE   OLD   FOUNDATIONS. 

ized  on  the  spot  does  not  appear.  The  Committee 
reported  to  Presbytery  the  next  month,  by  whom 
the  petitioners  were  advised  to  organize  them- 
selves into  a  separate  Congregation  for  the  worship 
of  God.  This  was  done  as  soon  as  practicable  there- 
after. Too  feeble  still  to  support  a  minister  of 
their  own,  they  were  dependent  on  Presbytery  for 
supplies  the  greater  part  of  the  time,  with  the 
exception  of  one  year,  during  which  the  Rev. 
Calvin  White  officiated  as  stated  supply,  until  the 
close  of  the  year  1799. 

There  was  no  Church  in  existence  here,  however, 
until  four  years  after  the  Congregation  was  planted. 
This  Church  was  organized,  after  the  Presbyterian 
form  of  government,  in  the  month  of  June,  1798, 
by  the  Rev.  Jedediah  Chapman,  then  pastor  of  the 
First  Church  in  Orange,  acting  as  a  Committee  of 
the  Presbytery  of  New  York.  Eighty-two  mem- 
bers constituted  it,  fifty-nine  of  whom  were  from 
his  own  church,  and  twenty-three  from  the  First 

ruptlon  of  the  old  Indian  original  name,  Watssessing,  given  to  the 
old  School-house  Hill  and  the  plains  adjacent,  as  appears  from  the 
ancient  Deeds  of  some  of  your  ancestors.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
Cougregation,  duly  notified,  held  October  13th,  1796,  the  name  of 
Wardsesson  was  dropped,  and  Bloomfield  adopted  by  "  a  large 
majority  of  votes.'' — See  Appendix. 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     55 

Church  in  Newark.  Of  this  original  number,  two* 
only  I  believe  remain  among  its  living  membership. 
The  ruling  Elders  and  Deacons  chosen  and  ordain- 
ed at  the  time  of  its  organization,  were  Simeon 
Baldwin^  Ephraim  Morris,  Isaac  Dodd,  and 
Joseph  Crane. 

In  the  year  1800,  under  the  ministry  of  Mr. 
Jackson,  the  form  of  government  of  this  Church 
was  changed,  and  the  New  England  or  congrega- 
tional system,  in  a  modified  form,  was  adopted. 
It  appears  from  the  Church  Recordst  that  this 
change,  never  sanctioned  by  the  Society,  was  very 
informally  yet  quietly  voted  by  the  Church,  at 
an  ordinary  Church  meeting  held  on  the  I2th 
of  February,  1800.  Mr.  J.  was  evidently  the 
author  of  this  transaction,  as  the  manner  of 
introducing  the  change  shows.  During  his  pas- 
torate the  Church  sent  its  delegates  to  the  Mor- 

*  These  are,  Israel  Crane,  Esq.,  who  was  early  chosen  a  ruling 
Elder,  and  still  retains  the  ofiSce,  and  who  bore  a  prominent  part 
in  the  erection  of  the  house,  and  to  whose  prudent  and  enlightened 
counsels,  and  acknowledged  ability  and  enterprise,  the  Church  and 
Parish  will  ever  feel  their  indebtedness,  and  who  in  a  green  old 
age  is  permitted  to  rejoice  in  your  prosperity ;  and  Mrs.  Betsey 
King. 

t  Vol.  i.,  pp.  60,  61 


56     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

ris  County  Presbytery,  of  which  he  was  a  mem- 
ber, which  was  essentially  Congregational  in  every 
thing  but  the  name,  and  conformed  to  its  rules  of 
discipline.  The  great  body  of  the  Church,  how- 
ever, although  they  acquiesced  in  the  thing  while 
Mr.  Jackson  remained  their  Pastor,  were  greatly 
dissatisfied  with  the  change  and  with  its  practical 
workings,  and  on  the  very  day  of  his  dismission 
voted,  on  considering  their  ecclesiastical  relations, 
to  apply  to  the  Presbytery  of  Je7'sey*  for  supplies, 
thus  practically  returning  to  their  old  "founda- 
tions." Soon  after,  by  a  formal  and  public  vote, 
the  Church  readopted  its  original  Presbyterian 
Constitution  and  usage.  And  on  this  Platform 
it  has  remained  ever  since,  unshaken  and  at 
peace. 

The  materials  for  this  Church  edifice  were  in 
part  collected  in  1796.  The  work  was  begun  in  the 
spring  following,  and  the  corner-stone  laid  by  Dr. 
McWhorter,  Pastor  of  the  First  Church  of  Newark, 
May  8,  1797,  and  the  walls  were  carried  up 
during  that  season.  The  house  was  not  finished 
however,  within,  until  1800,  although  it  began  to 

*  The  Presbytery  of  Jersey  was  the  old  Presbytery  of  New  York 
under  a  new  name  ;  i.  e.  the  Presbytery  which  organized  the 
Church,  and  to  which  it  has  always  belonged  except  the  time  of 
Mr.  Jackson's  pastorate. 


PLEA   FOR  THE    OLD   FOUNDATIONS.  57 

be  occupied  in  the  summer  of  1799.  Previous  to 
which  time,  the  congregation  worshipped  for  a 
while  in  the  Franklin  School-house,  but  during 
most  of  the  time  in  the  house  of  Joseph  Davi  . 
The  dimensions  of  the  original  edifice  were  55  by 
70  feet,  exclusive  of  the  tower. 

The  first  plan  was  to  build  a  much  smaller  frame 
house  as  a  temporary  provision,  and  the  work 
was  actually  begun  upon  it.  But  the  younger  and 
more  enterprising  men  remonstrated.  They  want- 
ed "  no  permanent  temporary  house,"  as  they 
wisely  and  nobly  declared,  "  but  one  that  would 
do  good  to  future  generations."  And  hence  they 
resolved  at  length  to  erect  this  stone  temple,  of 
ample  dimensions. 

-  Considering  their  strength  and  means,  it  was  a 
great  undertaking  for  them  ;  and  its  achievement 
a  signal  proof  of  what  a  few  resolute  souls  can  do 
when  they  have  "  a  mind  to  work,"  and  when 
moved  to  do  it  by  love  to  G-od,  and  faith  in  his 
promises.  It  was  a  work  that  cost  them  a  great 
deal  of  real  sacrifice  and  self-denial,  as  well  as 
vigorous  effort. 

It  seemed  almost  wholly  an  enterprise  of  faith. 
3* 


58     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

It  was  bailt  without  foreign  aid  ;*  while  the 
church  was  yet  in  its  cradle,  and  without  a  Pas- 
tor ;    and  when  money  was  scarce  indeed  :    built 

*  Except  a  donation  of  $140  from  Major- General  Bloomfield  at 
the  time  of  his  visit  here,  while  the  walls  were  being  carried  up. 
Mrs.  Bloomfield  at  the  same  time  presented  the  church  "with  a 
very  elegant  gilt  Bible." 

This  gift  was  providential.  And  there  hangs  a  story  upon  it 
too  interesting  to  be  lost.  "A  day  or  two  previous  to  his  visit, 
[Gen.  Bloomfield's,  a  graphic  and  detailed  account  of  which  may 
be  found  in  the  "  Sentinel"  of  July  12,  1797,]  two  of  the  Building 
Committee  [^Joseph  Davis  and  Simeon  Baldwin,  to  whose  enlight- 
ened views,  and  noble  efforts,  and  unceasing  prayers,  this  church 
owes  a  great  debt]  had  gone  to  New  York  to  purchase  a  cargo  of 
lime.  They  found  the  lime,  and  got  the  terms  on  which  it  might 
be  had.  In  consulting  what  to  do,  they  met  with  the  diiBculty  of 
an  empty  treasury.  When  they  left  home,  there  was  no  money  on 
hand  to  pay  for  the  lime.  They  walked  the  streets  in  distress,  not 
knowing  what  to  do ;  but  finally  concluded — This  is  the  Lord's 
House — He  must  and  he  will  provide,  and  we  ought  to  trust  his  word 
and  promise.  Animated  with  these  reflections,  they  boldly  closed 
the  bargain  for  the  cargo,  and  directed  the  Captain  to  sail  up  to 
Bellville  and  deliver  it.  They  returned.  And  the  next  morning 
Mr.  Baldwin  went  over  to  the  builders  with  a  heavy  heart,  think- 
ing, We  cannot  pay  for  the  lime,  and  must  discharge  the  hands  and 
stop  the  work.  But  he  found  the  workmen  all  engaged  and  in  fine 
spirits.  '  Good-morning.  Well,  have  you  bought  the  lime  V  'O 
yes  !  but  we  have  no  money  to  pay  for  it,  and  the  work  must  stop.' 
'  0  no !  that  must  not  be  :  there  is  money  enough  in  the  treasury.' 
'Where  did  you  get  it? '  'Why,  General  Bloomfield  was  here 
yesterday,  and  made  a  donation  to  the  trustees  of  .$140  to  help 
forward  the  work.'  'Ay,  the  Lord  will  provide  for  his  own  work : 
let  us  doubt  no  more.'  And  so  the  lime  was  delivered  and  paid 
for,  and  there  was  enough  to  finish  the  house."    See  Appendix. 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     50 

mainly  by  the  people  theaiselves  turning  out  in  rota- 
tion, and  working  with  their  own  hands  and  teams, 
alnaost  to  the  entire  neglect  of  their  worldly  affairs  ; 
and  yet  somehow,  as  tradition  says,  they  were 
never  more  prospered  ;  and  built  throughout  too 
in  the  most  thorough  and  substantial  manner.  It 
is  truly  affecting  to  hear  the  stories  which  are 
told  us  of  their  self-denials,  and  straits,  and  shifts, 
to  raise  the  means  to  build  this  noble  and  commo- 
dious Sanctuary,  the  men  binding  themselves  to 
wear  no  new  coat,  and  the  women  not  behind 
them  in  spirit,  until  it  was  finished  and  paid  for, 
and  the  altar  of  their  faith  set  up  in  it. 

And  who  can  doubt  that  the  v/isdom  and  Spirit 
of  God  guided  them  in  this  work  ?  They  laid  no 
contracted,  or  superficial, or  temporary  foundations. 
They  were  not  satisfied  to  meet  their  own  imme- 
diate wants.  They  devised  liberal  things.  With 
a  forethought  and  an  enterprise  worthy  of  the 
men,  they  planted  for  the  future — gave  sufficient 
breadth  and  capacity  to  these  walls  to  enclose  the 
growth  of  fifty  years.  And  there  is  no  estimating 
the  good  resulting  from  this  wise  and  liberal  fore- 
thought and  expenditure.  There  has  been  room 
for  expansion.     Presbyterianisra  has  retained  the 


60     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

ground  nearly  entire.  You  have  been  one  people. 
You  still  cling  to  these  old  foundations  ;  and  have 
now  extended  them  to  meet  your  enlarged  wants, 
rather  than  divide.  "  In  union  there  is  strength." 
The  experiment  here  proves  it. 

IT. — Its  Growth. 

This  Church  fairly  started  on  its  active  career 
with  the  year  1800.  Its  previous  work  was  pre- 
paratory only.  It  now  took  the  field  armed  for 
action.  It  had  a  sanctuary  to  worship  in,  a  con- 
gregation gathered,  an  organized  body  of  believers, 
and  a  pastor  chosen,  who  began  his  labors  on  the 
first  Sabbath  in  January  of  that  year.  Soon 
after  there  were  earnests  of  good — earnests  of  its 
future  history.  Under  its  first  pastor,  and  during 
the  first  year  of  his  ministry,  a  powerful  revival 
of  religion  blessed  it,  and  nearly  one  hundred 
were  added  to  the  church,  forty-seven  at  one 
communion. 

The  vitality  and  growth  of  this  Church,  thus 
early  and  signally  developed,  have  continued  un- 
abated down  to  the  present  moment.  Its  progress 
has  been  steady,  healthy,  constant,  until  it  has 
reached  its  present  strength  and  position — number- 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     61 

ing  now  nearly  500  living  members,  and  consider- 
ably larger  than  any  other  church  belonging  to 
Newark  Presbytery. 

The  number  of  members  at  its  organization  was 
82.  There  have  been  added  to  it  since,  on  certifi- 
cate, 283,  and  on  profession  of  their  faith,  895  ; 
making  in  all,  1256  members  received  into  the 
communion  of  this  church  ;  a  yearly  average  of 
23,  dating  from  January,  1800,  when  it  began  its 
career. 

During  the  same  period,  484  have  been  dis- 
missed to  join  other  churches,  245  have  died,  and 
44  have  been  suspended ;  leaving  487  as  the 
actual  number  in  communion  with  it  to-day. 

During  this  time  also  there  have  been  baptized, 
179  adults,  and  1340  infants  :  total  number  of 
baptisms,  1519. 

These  are  indeed  precious  and  glorious  direct 
results.  Few  churches,  planted  in  rural  districts, 
where  the  population  is  fixed  and  not  large, 
have  been  so  signally  favored  and  increased,  or 
have  more  abundant  occasion  to  thank  Grod  and 
take  courage.  The  '"foundations"  laid  with  so 
much  faith  and  sacrifice  and  toil,  and  breadth  of 
views,   and   enlightened   forethought,   have  been 


62  PLEA   FOR   THE    OLD   FOUNDATIONS. 

wonderfully  nourished  and   honored  of  the  Great 
Head  of  the  Church  to  the  saving  of  souls. 

TIL — Its  Pastors. 

This  Church  has  had  six  Pastors  in  all,  four  of 
whom  are  still  living. 

The  first  Pastor  was  the  Rev.  Abel  Jackson,  a 
member  of  the  Morris  County  Presbytery,  who 
began  his  labors  in  January,  1800,  and  was  duly 
installed  by  the  above-named  Presbytery,  in  the 
fall  of  the  same  year.  He  continued  his  labors 
for  eleven  years,  and  was  greatly  blessed.  Towards 
the  close  of  his  ministry,  however,  very  serious 
difficulties  arose  in  reference  to  him,  which,  for 
two  or  three  of  the  last  years  of  his  pastorate, 
greatly  distracted  the  church,  and  resulted  in  his 
dismission  on  the   8th  of  November,  1810.*     He 

*  There  was  a  considerable  difiBculty  as  to  the  form  of  his  dis- 
mission. To  compromise  the  matter,  the  chnrch  consented  to  call 
a  Council  of  Ministers  to  consider  the  question  of  the  expediency 
of  his  dismission,  composed  of  representatives  from  both  Presby- 
teries, Morris  County  and  Jersey.  From  the  former,  Rev.  Messrs. 
Grover  and  Constant,  with  Messrs.  Carmicke,  Mapes  and  Corwin, 
delegates,  (who  were  finally  admitted  ;)  and  from  the  latter,  Drs. 
Richards,  McDowell  and  Hilyer,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Picton.  The  Coun- 
cil advised  his  dismission,  and  the  Parish  voted  Mr.  Jackson  $400 
"  as  the  terms  of  his  dismission.''    Both  parties  then  agreed  that 


PLEA   FOR  THE   OLD   FOUNDATIONS,  63 

continued  to  reside  here  for  some  years  after  this, 
and  nothing  but  the  great  firmness  and  prudence 
of  the  majority  of  the  people  saved  the  Congrega- 
tion from  actual  division.  There  are  documents 
of  great  interest  and  ability  spread  out  upon  your 
Church  Records,  illustrative  of  this  remark,  and 
proving  that  there  were  men  of  clear  heads  and 
sound  discretion,  and  who  wielded  a  powerful  pen, 
in  the  councils  of  this  Society  at  that  period. 
These  difficulties  prevented  the  settlement  of 
another  pastor  for  a  considerable  time. 

The  Rev.  Cyrus  Gildersleeve  was  finally  chosen 
to  succeed  him .  He  was  installed  by  the  Presbytery 
of  Jerseij,  March  21, 1812.  On  November  6th,  fol- 
lowing,  the  church  again  formally  adopted  the 
Presbyterian  form  of  church  government,*  which 

the  relation  should  be  formally  dissolved  by  the  Morris  County 
Presbytery,  which  was  done  the  next  week. — Church  Records,  vol. 
i.,pp.  148-152. 

*  There  was  some  opposition  to  this,  and  a  few  members  withdrew 
and  went  to  Caldivell,vi)i\ch  still  adhered  to  the  Morris  County  Pres- 
bytery. It  seems,  therefore,  that  this  church  was  early  called  to 
the  ordeal  to  which  many  of  our  sister  churches  are,  unfortunately 
for  their  peace,  subjected  at  the  present  time.  The  conflict 
between  the  two  great  Ecclesiastical  Systems  of  this  country, 
which  the  rashness  and  ambition  of  a  few  attached  to  each  is  fast 
bringing  on  in  various  quarters,  has  already  been  once  met  and 
settled  on  this  field. 


64     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

it  had  observed  from  the  day  of  Mr.  Jackson's  dis- 
mission, and  on  the  8th  of  the  same  month, 
elected  ten  ruling  elders,  viz.  :  Joseph  Crane, 
Joseph  Davis,  Ichahod  Baldwin,  and  Israel  Crane, 
already  Deacons,  together  with  David  Taylor, 
Nathaniel  Crane,  Moses  Dodd,  John  Dodd,  Hiram 
Dodd,  and  Josiah  Ward,  who,  on  the  following 
Sabbath,  were  set  apart  to  this  office.  Mr. 
Gildersleeve's  pastoral  relation  continued  until 
May,  1818.  Both  these  early  pastors  have  de- 
ceased. 

The  Church  was  again  destitute  of  a  Pastor  two 
years.  And  during  this  interval,  a  large  outlay 
was  made  in  completing  the  Steeple,  and  in  re- 
seating and  re-flooring  the  entire  house.  The  Bell, 
whose  sweet  tones  have  for  more  than  thirty  years 
invited  you  here,  was  a  present  from  Major 
Nathaniel  Crane,  one  of  the  original  members  of 
this  church,  and  who  subsequently  left  $10,000 
towards  the  support  of  the  gospel  in  the  West 
Village,  whenever  a  church  should  be  organized 
there. 

Mr.  Grildersleeve's  successor  was  the  Rev. 
Gideon  N.  Judd,  a  member  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Columbia,  who  still  lives  to  labor  in  the  common 


PLEA   FOR   THE    OLD   FOUNDATIONS.  65 

vineyard.  He  began  his  labors  in  May,  1820,  and 
was  installed  on  the  9th  of  August  following,  by 
the  Jersey  Presbytery.  On  the  30th  of  August, 
1822,  there  was  another  election  of  elders,  and 
Caleb  Baldwin,  Eleazar  Baldwin  and  Zopliar  B. 
Dodd,  were  chosen  to  that  office. 

Mr.  Judd's  ministry  ajjpears  to  have  been  sig- 
nally honored  of  G-od  in  the  conversion  of  souls, 
and  in  consolidating  and  quickening  all  the  ele- 
ments of  growth  and  prosperity  existing  among 
you.  Precious  revivals  were  the  fruit  of  it.  Order, 
system  and  activity  were  given  to  every  thing. 
The  spirit  of  benevolence  was  awakened  by  him, 
and  that  simple  yet  efficient  system  matured  and 
introduced,  which  has  been  productive  of  results 
great  and  blessed.  He  wrought  on  the  "founda- 
tions" which  God  has  laid  in  the  Gospel,  and  by 
his  providence.  His  preaching  was  scriptural,  prac- 
tical and  experimental,  and  his  pastoral  labors 
faithful  and  abundant.  This  Church  owes  not  a 
little  of  its  character  and  strength  to  the  piety, 
wisdom  and  fidelity  of  that  beloved  and  now  vene- 
rated Father. 

He  remained  your  pastor  until  April  15,  1834. 
His  stated  labors,  however,  ceased  some  months 


66     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

before.  Appointed  Associate  Secretary  of  the  Amer- 
ican Home  Missionary  Society,  and  wishing  to 
make  trial  of  its  duties  before  accepting  the  office, 
the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Seymour  was  engaged  to 
supply  the  pulpit  in  the  meanwhile.  In  Mr. 
Judd's  own  language,  ''  the  importance  of  the 
work  to  which  he  was  appointed,  the  prospect  of 
improved  health,  and  of  seeing  his  place  immedi- 
ately supplied  by  the  settlement  of  Mr.  Seymour," 
made  it  to  appear  his  duty  to  resign  his  charge. 

The  Rev.  Ebenezer  Seymour,  a  member  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  was  the  fourth  Pastor. 
A  unanimous  call  was  put  into  his  hands  on  the 
same  day  that  Presbytery  dismissed  Mr.  Judd,  and 
he  was  duly  installed  on  the  13th  of  May,  1834. 
He  had  already  been  laboring  for  some  months  as 
a  stated  supply. 

On  the  2d  of  November  following,  Matthias 
Smith,  Bethuel  Ward,  Elias  J.  Crane,  and  Efi- 
phalet  Hall  were  chosen  Elders,  and  were  set  apart 
to  that  office  on  the  7th  of  December  ensuing. 

Mr.  Seymour  remained  your  Pastor  until  April 
26,  1847.  He  is  still  one  of  us,  filling  a  highly 
responsible  and  useful  place,  enjoying  the  good-will 
and  esteem  of  his  former  people,  and  by  his  kind 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     67 

and  considerate  course  reversing  the  saying,  that 
"  Ministers  make  the  worst  of  parishioners." 

The  records  of  this  church  for  thirteen  years  fur- 
nish the  proof  that  Mr.  Seymour,  while  he  served 
you  in  the  ministry,  was  a  highly  successful  ser- 
vant of  the  Lord.  The  church  continued  to  prosper 
and  increase  under  him.  Extensive  revivals  tes- 
tify that  Grod  wrought  with  him.  He  wisely  fol- 
lowed in  the  footsteps  of  his  predecessor,  and  ma- 
tured and  developed  the  plans  of  usefulness  which 
he  had  introduced.  Your  Lecture-Room  and  Par- 
sonage were  both  built  while  he  was  your  pastor, 
and  his  exertions  greatly  aided  in  their  erection. 

It  was  during  his  pastorate,  viz.,  August,  1838, 
that  our  West  Bloomfield  brethren,  so  many  of 
whom,  with  their  Pastor,  we  are  happy  to  greet 
here  to-day,  withdrew  and  built  a  separate  altar 
in  their  own  village.  May  they  be  provoked  to  lay 
such  foundations  as  their  fathers  helped  to  lay 
here,  and  realize  from  them,  in  coming  generations, 
results  as  extensive  and  precious!  This  Church 
dismissed  for  this  purpose  almost  as  many  of  her 
members  as  at  first  constituted  it. 

After  a  brief  vacancy  you  called  for  your  next 
Pastor,  the  Rev.  George  Dujffield,  Jmi.,  a  mem- 


68     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

ber  of  the  Presbytery  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  He 
began  his  labors  in  August,  1847,  and  was  in- 
stalled November  4th,  following,  by  the  Presby- 
tery of  Newark.  His  brief  ministry  was  also 
very  successful.  Entering  on  his  labors  with  a 
great  and  somewhat  divided  charge,  he  fully  "oc- 
cupied" his  talents,  and  was  permitted  to  reap  no 
scanty  harvest.  The  Holy  Spirit,  who  had  so 
gloriously  visited  the  people  under  former  minis- 
tries, honored  his  in  a  similar  way.  A  large  acces- 
sion was  made  to  the  church  during  this  period. 

Called  to  exercise  his  ministry  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  he  resigned  his  charge,  and  was  dis- 
missed from  this  church  December  23,  1851 . 

In  1848,  David  Conger  and  Warren  S.  Bald- 
win were  chosen  and  ordained  to  the  office  of  the 
Eldership. 

My  own  ministry  among  you  began  in  April  of 
the  ensuing  year.  I  was  installed  by  the  Presby- 
tery of  Newark  on  the  10th  of  November  follow- 
ing. For  several  years  I  had  been  a  member  of 
the  Presbytery  of  Brooklyn,  and  engaged  in  edi- 
torial labor  as  the  conductor  of  the  ^^ National 
Preacher,''''  and  of  the  ^^ Biblical  Repository .^^  I 
was  called  here,  however,  from  the  Second  Con- 


PLEA  FOR  THE   OLD   FOUNDATIOKS.  69 

gregational  Church  of  Milford,  Ct.,*  which  I  felt 
obliged  to  leave  after  only  one  year's  service,  for 
reasons  connected  with  my  health.  Coming  to 
you  greatly  prostrated,  and  having  to  struggle  with 
a  depressing  disease,  the  effect  of  over-labor  during 
a  season  of  great  religious  interest  there,  and  able 
as  yet  to  perform  but  a  part  of  the  pastoral  labor 
connected  with  this  large  parish,  I  am  conscious 
of  having  greatly  taxed  your  forbearance,  and 
labored  under  serious  disadvantages.  Of  my  man- 
ner of  living  and  teaching  among  you,  you  are  the 
living  witnesses.  But  God  has  not  been  unmindful 
of  his  promise,  I  feel  constrained  to  say.  These 
old  "foundations"  have  not  yet  lost  their  virtue.  It 
has  been  yourPastor's  privilege, standing  here  where 
so  many  of  his  brethren  before  him  have  stood,  and 

*  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  a  considerable  portion  of  your  ancestors 
came  from  Milford.  The  names  of  many  of  the  old  families  in  both 
places  are  the  same.  The  First  Church  there  was  organized  as 
early  as  1639,  nineteen  years  after  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  landed  at 
Plymouth. 

Having  taken  away  one  of  Milford's  Pastors,  it  was  but  right 
that  you  should  give  them  one  in  return.  And  it  is  pleasing  to 
know  that  one  of  your  own  worthy  sons,  the  Rev. Stephen  G.Dodd,  is 
now  happily  and  usefully  settled  in  his  place.  It  was  my  privi- 
lege to  preach  his  ordination  sermon  there  a  little  more  than  a 
year  since.  Milford  and  Bloomfield  are  bound  together  by  many 
ties. 


70  PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

wept  and  taught  and  prayed  and  rejoiced,  to  see 
God's  Word  take  effect — to  see  the  spirit  of  deep 
solemnity  and  tearful  interest  settle  down  upon 
thisSanctuary — to  see  yonder  Lecture-Room  nearly 
filled  with  inquirers  after  salvation — to  sit  down 
with  many  of  you  in  his  Study  and  point  you  to 
the  Saviour — to  introduce  not  a  few  of  you  into 
the  membership  of  this  Church — and  to  see  these 
enlarged  and  improved  foundations  laid  and  finished 
in  a  spirit  and  with  a  liberality  worthy  of  your 
fathers'  memory,  and  of  your  history. 

We  have  now  reached  the  limit  of  your  pastoral 
history  ;  all  beyond  this  moment  is  conjecture  and 
uncertainty.  But  whatever  becomes  of  the  exist- 
ing relation,  or  the  present  iacumbent,  your 
^^foundations'''  remain  to  you.  Your  Pastors  die 
or  leave  you,  but  not  their  principles,  not  the  fruits 
of  their  labors.  They  are  vital,  they  abide  with 
you  ;  their  voices  are  living  voices,  speaking  out 
from  these  walls  to-day;  their  life  is  a  perpetuated 
life,  to  bless  this  people,  because  identified  with 
these  "foundations." 

Let  us  gather  into  a  single  view  the  results  of 
these  several  pastors'  labors,  so  far  as  they  appear 
from  accessions  to  the  Church. 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     71 

There  were  received  into  communion  with  this 
Church,  during  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Jackson, 
eleven  years,  196. 

During  Mr.  Gilder sleeve^s,  little  over  six  years, 
130. 

During  Dr.  JudcPs,  fourteen  years,  361. 

During  Mr.  Seymour'' s,  thirteen  years,  275. 

During  Mr.  DuffiekVs,  four  years  and  four 
months,  125. 

And  during  my  own,  thus  far,^  one  year  and 
nine  months,  77.* 

These  periods  comprise  just  fifty  years  of  pas- 
toral service. 

IV. REVIVALS. 

This  Church  has  been  frequently  and  signally 
favored  with  seasons  of  Revival.  There  have  been 
Revivals  under  every  Pastor,  and  some  of  them 
were  revivals  of  very  great  power  and  interest. 
All  of  them  were  evidently  Revivals  of  "  pure  re- 
ligion andundefiled" — healthy,  and  promotive  only 
of  peace  and  strength — the  result  of  God's  bless- 

*  Besides  these,  a  large  number  connected  with  our  several 
Schools,  who  have  been  hopefully  converted  from  time  to  time, 
have  preferred  to  connect  with  their  several  churches  at  home. 


72     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

ing  on  sound  and  faithful  pastoral  teaching  and 
labor. 

One  fact  in  proof  of  this  is  significant,  viz.,  that 
of  the  1,256  members  received  into  this  church 
since  its  organization — and  a  very  large  majority 
of  them  were  the  fruit  of  Revivals — only  forty- 
four  have  been  expelled  ;  and  discipline  has  not 
been  neglected.  This  is  in  the  ratio  of  one  to 
twenty-eight  received.  The  miserable  policy — a 
policy  as  unwise  in  the  end  as  it  is  unchristian  in 
principle,  which  is  adopted  by  too  many  churches 
to  swell  their  numbers,  or  gain  proselytes — of  ad- 
mitting members  hastily,  has  never  been  coun- 
tenanced by  this  Church.  Unusual  care  and  cau- 
tion, as  the  records  show,  have,  from  the  first,  been 
exercised  on  this  point.  The  element  of  all  these 
revivals — of  this  rapid  growth  and  expansion — has 
been  the  simple  Truth  of  the  Grospel,  disconnected 
with  all  novel  measures  and  undue  excitements — 
the  Truth  acting  on  thoroughly  evangelical  and 
tried  foundations,  through  systematic  and  estab- 
lished agencies,  and  by  the  ordinary  and  Heaven- 
appointed  means  for  advancing  the  Redeemer's 
Kingdom. 

There  have  been  no  less  than  sixteen  distinct 


PLEA  FOR   THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     73 

REVIVALS  OF  RELIGION  siiice  the  pei'iod  of  Mr.  Jack- 
son's settlement.  The  first  year  of  his  labors  was 
signalized  by  the  outpoured  Spirit.  The  Church, 
yet  in  its  infancy,  just  started  on  its  career,  just 
blessed  with  a  pastor,  was  visited  from  on  high. 
It  would  appear  as  if  nearly  one  hundred  were 
hopefully  converted  in  this  first  visitation  of  God. 
Many  of  the  oldest  living  members  of  this  Church 
were  among  the  fruits  of  it.  For  that  early  day 
it  was  a  "■  great  Revival."  An  interesting  account 
of  it  was  published  at  the  time  by  Mr.  Jackson, 
in  the  New  York  Missionary  Magazine,  vol.  iii. 
In  1808,  another  precious  season  of  refreshing  was 
enjoyed,  and  fifty  or  more,  it  would  appear,  were 
quickened  into  life. 

In  1814,  under  Mr.  G-ildersleeve,  there  was  a 
very  thorough  and  extensive  work  of  the  Spirit, 
reviving  the  church  and  converting  sinners  ;  and 
again,  in  1817,  there  was  another  Revival  of  a 
similar  character.  At  least  fifty,  it  is  supposed, 
were  born  of  the  Spirit  at  each  time. 

The  year  1820,  the  first  of  Mr.  Judd's  ministry, 
was  another  of  Grod's  "set  times"  to  favor  your 
Zion.     This   revival  continued  for  nearly  a  year. 


V4  PLEA   FOR  THE   OLD   FOUNDATIONS. 

and  extended  to  all  parts  of  the  congregation,  and 
shook  the  church  into  new  life  ;  and  more  than 
one  hundred  were,  it  is  believed,  renewed  by- 
Divine  grace.  It  was  a  thorough  work,  embracing 
all  classes,  and  leaving  permanent  evidence  that 
it  was  of  G-od.  "  The  work,"  says  Mr.  Judd, 
•*was  characterized  by  order,  silence,  deep  solem- 
nity, and  pungent  conviction  of  sin." 

Again,  in  1823,  a  portion  of  the  Church  was 
revived,  and  some  souls  were  made  alive  to  God. 

Again,  in  1825,  the  Spirit  was  poured  out  upon 
a  portion  of  the  Church,  and  about  fifty  are  believed 
to  have  been  born  into  the  Kingdom. 

The  year  1830  was  another  remarkable  season 
of  interest  and  ingathering.  In  the  language  of 
Mr.  Judd  himself,  describing  it  four  years  after- 
ward, *'  the  Lord  appeared  in  the  midst  of  this 
people,  in  the  power  of  his  glory  and  riches  of  his 
grace.  This  visit  of  divine  mercy  lasted  for  many 
months  ;  a  portion  of  the  Church,  however,  seemed 
not  to  know  that  the  Lord  was  among  them; 
others  were  humbled  and  excited  to  importunate 
prayer,  and  great  activity  in  the  service  of  G-od. 
The  subjects  of  renewing  grace  during  this  work 


PLEA   FOR   THE   OLD   FOUNDATIONS.  75 

are  believed  to  have  been   more  than  one  hun- 
dred."* 

As  Mr.  Judd's  labors  began  with  a  revival,  so 
they  were  to  closa  with  a  revival.  Tn  November, 
1838,  another  work  of  special  grace  began,  which 
continued  all  the  following  winter.  "This  gra- 
cious visitation  from  on  high,"  writes  Mr.  Judd, 
"was  more  distinguished  for  its  sanctifying, 
quickening,  and  comforting  influence  upon  God's 
professing  people,  and  on  those  who  already  in- 
dulged hope,  but  had  not  publicly  taken  his  vows 
upon  them,  than  by  the  number  of  conversions 
from  the  world.  Of  these  there  were  thirty  or 
thirty-five  ;  but  rarely  does  the  Church  experience 
a  season  of  more  delightful  refreshing.  The 
silence  of  the  sepulchre  reigned  in  the  frequent 
and  crowded  assemblies  convened  for  worship. 
Daily  prayer-meetings  at  sunrise,  or  before  the 
dawn  of  day,  were  held  in  different  neighborhoods 
during  the  winter.  Many  of  the  members  of  the 
Church  exhibited  an  unusual  tenderness  of  con- 
science, spirit  of  prayer,  and  devotion  to  the  ser- 
vice of  G-od."     This  was  the  winter  that  Mr.  Sey- 

*  See  Church  Manual  for  all  the  quotations  from  Dr.  Judd. 


76     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

mour  mainly  supplied  the  pulpit  in  the  absence  of 
Mr.  Judd,  although  the  accessions  to  the  Church 
which  were  the  fruits  of  this  revival,  were  mostly 
made  previous  to  Mr.  J.'s  dismission. 

During  the  winter  and  spring  of  1837,  while 
Mr.  Seymour  was  your  pastor,  another  revival  of 
remarkable  interest  and  power  was  enjoyed.  The 
work  reached  and  seemed  to  impress  the  entire 
congregation.  More  than  one  hundred  souls  were 
the  hopeful  subjects  of  that  work. 

During  the  next  winter  there  was  a  pleasing 
revival  in  the  Montgomery  Neighborhood,  which 
greatly  changed  the  moral  character  of  that  por- 
tion of  the  Society.  Rev.  Greorge  W.  "Wood,  now 
one  of  the  Secretaries  of  the  American  Board,  had 
charge  of  the  pulpit  for  some  months  during  this 
season  of  interest,  and  his  labors  here  are  held  in 
grateful  remembrance  by  many. 

Two  years  after,  in  the  winter  and  spring  of 
1840,  the  Holy  Spirit  was  again  signally  poured 
out.  The  interest  in  the  Church  was  so  great 
that,  in  the  Central  and  North  part  of  the  congre- 
gation, prayer-meetings,  held  before  sunrise  and 
begun  in  the  depth  of  winter,  and  continued  with- 
out interruption  for  five  months,  were  held.    Some- 


PLEA   FOR  THE   OLD   FOUNDATIONS,  77 

where  between  seventy  and  one  hundred  is  the  es- 
timated number  of  the  converts. 

In  the  spring  of  1843  the  Church  was  in  a  mea- 
sure revived  again,  and  about  twenty  it  is  thought 
passed  from  death  unto  life. 

One  general  and  one  partial  revival  occurred 
under  Mr.  Duffield's  ministry.  The  first,  in  3848, 
a  few  months  after  his  settlement,  was  a  precious 
and  extensive  one,  and  fruitful  in  conversions. 
He  estimated  the  number  of  converts  at  from  sev- 
enty to  seventy-five.  The  Church  Records  show 
an  accession  of  fifty-six  during  that  year,  on  pro- 
fession of  their  faith,  the  most  of  whom,  it  is  pre- 
sumed, were  the  fruits  of  it. 

Again,  in  the  winter  of  1S50,  there  was  special 
religious  interest.  But  this  time  it  seems  to  have 
commenced  in  the  Schools  and  been  chiefly  con- 
fined to  them,  except  in  the  Montgomery  district, 
which  was  again  specially  favored.  Mr.  Craig- 
head assisted  Mr.  Duffield  in  the  work  there.  The 
gathering  of  a  Church  in  that  neighborhood  was 
for  awhile  seriously  entertained,  and  favored,  I 
believe,  by  the  pastor. 

In  the  winter  and  spring  of  1853,  under  the 
ministry  of  your  present  pastor,  this  Church  was 


78     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

again  greatly  favored.  This  revival  occurred  un- 
der the  regular  ministrations  of  the  pastor.  It 
was  a  silent,  deep,  and  pungent  work.  In  some 
of  its  features  it  was  peculiar.  It  was  preceded 
by  several  months  of  great  seriousness  on  the  part 
of  many  of  the  impenitent.  The  work  of  conver- 
sion began  before  any  part  of  the  Church  seemed 
stirred  up.  More  than  two  hundred  different  per- 
sons attended  upon  the  meeting  for  inquiry,  the 
most  of  whom  (those  who  were  not  converted)  re- 
mained more  or  less  anxious  for  months.  And  yet 
the  Church  did  not  generally  rally  to  the  work, 
and  consequently  only  a  part  of  the  abundant  har- 
vest thus  prepared  to  our  hands  by  the  Word  and 
Spirit  of  Grod,  was  gathered  by  us.  Still  we  have 
reason  to  think  that  nearly  one  hundred,  including 
those  in  the  Schools,  were  savingly  reached  by 
this  Divine  visitation.  It  was  really  more  of  an 
"  awakening"  than  a  "  revival,"  in  its  character. 
This  may  with  propriety,  therefore,  be  called  a 
Revival  Church.  "  Precious  in  the  sight  of  the 
Lord"  have  these  "  foundations"  been.  The  Holy 
Spirit  has  loved  to  visit  and  to  water  them.  About 
ONE  THOUSAND  SOULS,  it  is  bclievcd,  have  been 
gathered  to  Christ,  during  these  harvest  seasons. 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     79 

These  revivals  have  been  the  streams  that  have  so 
oft  made  glad  your  hearts,  refreshed  yoar  souls, 
and  caused  this  vineyard  to  flourish  as  the  garden 
of  the  Lord.  They  have  given  character  and  ac- 
tivity to  all  your  growth. — If  there  is  one  Church 
on  earth  more  than  another  that  ought  to  love,  and 
pray,  and  labor  for  Revivals  of  religion,  it  would 
seem  that  you  are  that  Church. 

Planted  as  this  Zion  is  amidst  these  numerous 
Educational  Institutions,  which  are  laying  the 
foundations  of  so  many  characters  and  lives,  and 
sending  forth  their  streams  of  influence  all  over  the 
country — your  spacious  galleries  almost  filled  from 
Sabbath  to  Sabbath  with  dear  youth  from  abroad 
here  being  trained — there  is  a  double  interest  at- 
tached to  these  Revivals,  and  a  double  responsibility 
devolved  on  those  who  seek  to  maintain  these 
"foundations."  How  disastrous  on  the  cause  of 
Learning — on  the  spirit,  prosperity,  and  efficiency 
of  these  Schools — were  a  dead  or  corrupt  Church  !  a 
community  careless,  immoral,  and  irreligious !  But 
now  they  not  only  serve  to  strengthen  our  hands, 
and  furnish  us  with  hopeful  material  to  work  upon, 
but  they  themselves  are  made  to  breathe  an  atmo- 
sphere vital  with  religious  life  and  evangelical  doc- 


80     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

trine  ;  and  through  their  own  ever-widening  chan- 
nels they  help  to  spread  and  perpetuate  these  Gros- 
pel  "  foundations." 

One  feature  of  the  Eevivals  among  this  people  is 
somewhat  peculiar,  and  I  must  say  has  served  to 
modify  somewhat  my  views  of  the  theory  of  re- 
vivals, at  least  in  one  respect,  I  had  believed — it 
is  pretty  generally  believed — that  sinners  wrought 
upon  deeply  under  a  revival  pressure  but  not  con- 
verted, are  thereafter  less  hopeful  subjects  than 
others  unconverted.  This  is  unquestionably  true 
of  all  spurious  excitements.  But  here,  as  a 
general  thing,  it  has  been  different.  Those 
awakened  and  interested  but  not  gathered  in, 
during  one  revival,  have  been  the  first-fruits  of 
the  next.  The  impressions  made  during  one  spe- 
cial visitation,  the  Spirit  has  kept  alive  until  an- 
other. The  seeds  sown  in  these  seasons  of  special 
labor  and  prayer  have  sprung  up  first  and  ripened, 
when  the  next  harvest-time  arrived.  This  fact 
shows  that  man  cannot  philosophize  upon  the  ope- 
rations of  God's  Spirit  with  any  certainty.  It 
shows  also  that  there  is  Gospel  truth  and  convic- 
tion enough  all  the  while  in  the  souls  of  many  sin- 
ners, to  bring  them  to  Christ,  and  yet  they  will  per- 


PLEA  FOR  THE   OLD   FOUNDATIONS.  81 

ish,  unless  a  revival  courage,  and  revival  sympa- 
thy and  spirit  of  prayer,  come  to  their  help. 

V. — Expenditures  an©  Benevolence. 

The  original  dimensions  of  this  Edifice,  as  I  have 
said,  were  fifty-five  feet  by  seventy,  exclusive  of 
the  Tower  ;  as  now  enlarged,  fifty -five  by  eighty- 
four.  The  Gralleries  are  unusually  broad  and 
spacious.  It  will  accommodate  from  1,000  to 
1,200  persons. 

From  the  manner  in  which  the  house  was  built, 
the  first  cost  of  it  is  not  known.  The  opinions  of 
experienced  men  say  about  $14,000.*  In  1819, 
the  Steeple  to  the  Tower  was  completed,  and  the 
interior  refitted,  at  an  expense  of  over  $4,000.  And 
the  cost  of  the  present  enlargement,  refitting,  im- 
provements, and  refurnishing,  amounts  to  nearly 
$9,000.  Making  the  total  cost  of  your  sanctuary 
as  it  now  stands,  exclusive  of  repairs,  about 
$27,000.  In  addition  to  this,  in  1840,  your  com- 
modious Brick  Lecture-Room  was  built,  at  an  ex- 
pense of  $2,500.  And  again,  in  1842,  an  expense 
of  $3,500  was  incurred  in  providing  yourselves 

*  Such  a  building  of  course  could  not  be  put  up  now  for  any 
Buch  amount  of  money. 

4* 


82     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

with  a  Parsofiag-e,  quite  in  keeping  with  the  other 
foundations.  Total  cost  of  original  outlay  for 
buildings,  about  $33,000. 

While  doing  thus  liberally  for  yourselves,  you 
have  not  been  unmindful  of  the  claims  of  Christian 
Benevolence  abroad,  I  cannot  go  into  this  branch 
of  the  subject  as  fully  as  I  could  wish.  The  his- 
tory is  full  of  instruction,  and  settles  three  im- 
portant principles.  1.  The  immense  advantage 
of  systematic  action,  2.  Revivals  quicken  and 
increase  the  benevolence  of  the  Church.  3.  A 
wise  and  liberal  expenditure  in  laying  the  founda- 
tions at  home,  is  the  surest  way  to  meet  the  de- 
mands from  abroad. 

Previous  to  the  adoption  of  your  present  efficient 
system  in  1832,  little,  comparatively,  was  done. 
Some  Societies  were  organized,  and  occasional  ef- 
forts made  to  sustain  them.  The  first  was  the 
Bible  Society,  in  1817,  the  year  after  the  Ameri- 
can Bible  Society  was  formed.  This  lasted  eight 
years,  and  besides  expending  considerable  sums 
for  Bibles  and  Testaments  for  distribution  in  the 
township,  made  several  donations  to  the  Parent 
Society,  the  largest  of  which  was  $50.  In  1829 
a  new  interest  was  awakened  in  behalf  of  the 


PLEA   FOR  THE   OLD   FOUNDATIONS.  83 

Bible,  and  $75  were  given,  which  was  about  the 
average  annual  gift  until  1832, 

The  first  Missionary  organization  was  the  Fe- 
male Mite  Society^  which  contributed  from  $50 
to  $80,  annually,  to  the  American  Board,  until 
1825,  when  a  Male  and  a  Female  Foreign  Mission- 
ary Association  were  formed,  whose  aggregate  an- 
nual gifts,  until  1832,  were  not  much  over  $100. 
In  1829  the  Bloomjield  Juvenile  Tract  Society  was 
formed,  which  raised,  the  four  years  it  existed, 
$244.  Beginning  with  1826,  the  total  sum 
raised  yearly  for  Benevolence  abroad,  down  to 
1832,  so  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  averaged  only 
about  $182. 

At  the  close  of  the  year  1832,  the  Plan  of  benev- 
olent operations  now  in  force,  was  adopted  by  the 
congregation,  and  has  been  ever  since  rigidly  ad- 
hered to,  with  most  happy  results.  The  plan 
was  then  new  and  untried.  Bat  experience  had 
taught  the  inefficiency  of  the  former  system. 
Experience  has  also  taught  us,  in  the  workings  of 
this  plan,  for  more  than  twenty  years,  the  value 
and  power  of  an  established  system,  simple  in 
its  machinery,  and  bringing  the  great  subject  of 
Benevolence,  in  some  of  its  relations,  before  all 


84  PLEA   FOR   THE  OLD   FOUNDATIONS. 

the  people  monthly  on  the  Sabbath.  The  total 
amount  of  the  first  year  was  $502,  more  than 
twice  that  of  the  previous  year.  The  average 
amount  reported  by  the  Board  of  Benevolence 
for  the  next  fourteen  years — although  during 
this  period  the  West  Bloomfield  brethren  with- 
drew, and  great  commercial  distress  was  every- 
where experienced,  and  $6,000  paid  for  the 
Lecture-Room  and  Parsonage — was  $609.  From 
1847  on  to  the  present,  there  has  been  a  marked 
advance.  The  sum,  in  1848,  was  $712  ;  in  1849, 
$1,039;  in  1850,  $1,089;  in  1851,  $1,291;  in 
1852,  $1,614 ;  and  the  present  year,  $1,655. 

These  sums  do  not  embrace  the  direct  contri- 
butions of  individuals,  nor  of  the  several  Schools 
attached  to  the  congregation.  These,  if  added, 
would  greatly  swell  the  aggregate.*  The  total 
sum  thus  reported  through  the  Board  of  Benevo- 
lence since  January,  1833,  is  $16,434. 

"We  must  admit,  from  this  condensed  and  im- 
perfect review,  that  the  system  works  well.  These 
figures,  considering  your  comparative  pecuniary 
means,  show  that  your  reputation  for  liberality  is 

*  Our  contributions  for  the  last  year  exceeded  $2,000,  adding 
what  the  Schools  gave. 


PLEA  FOR  THE   OLD   FOUNDATIONS.  85 

not  wholly  groundless.  You  could  not  have  given 
away  so  much  and  thrived  under  it,  had  you  not 
laid  such  generous  foundations  at  home.  And 
now  that  you  have  expended  so  much  more  to  en- 
large and  improve  them,  I  shall  confidently  look 
for  a  proportionate  increase  in  your  liberality  ; 
and  it  will  be  forthcoming,  unless  I  have  falsified 
your  history.* 

VI.  Ministers  and  Missionaries. 

This  church  has  borne  a  liberal  part  in  furnish- 
ing a  pious  and  educated  Ministry.  At  an  early 
period  a  deep  interest  was  felt  in  the  Education 
Cause,  especially  in  reference  to  the  Christian 
Ministry  ;  and  great  exertions  and  sacrifices  have 
been  made,  particularly  by  some  of  the  prominent 
men  in  this  Church  in  its  behalf,  as  the  history 
of  the  "Bloomfield  Academy"  for  a  long  course  of 
years  testifies.!  Comparatively  a  large  number 
of  the  children  and  converts  of  this  Church  have 

*  Since  this  date  we  have  made  our  annual  collection  for  the 
Home  Missionary  Society,  amounting  to  $260,  which  is  an  advance 
of  more  than  50  per  cent,  on  any  previous  one  ;  and  for  the  Edit- 
cation  Cause  $164,  an  advance  of  nearly  100  per  cent. 

t  This  Academy  has  done  good  service  to  the  cause  of  ministe- 
rial education.    It  was  built  in  1809 — a  large  and  stately  brick 


86     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

gone  forth  into  the  world  to  preach  the  Grospel. 
Most  of  these  are  still  living,  some  of  them  at  a 
very  advanced  age  ;  and  of  none  of  them,  so  far 

edifice — at  a  very  heavy  expense.  It  has  helped  to  educate  a 
great  number  of  young  men  for  the  ministry.  In  the  palmy  days 
of  the  Education  Society,  it  was  under  their  control,  and  from 
25  to  30  beneficiaries  were  constantly  sustained  in  connection  with 
it.  For  several  years  while  Rev.  Amzi  Armstrong,  D.  D.,  had  the 
charge  of  it,  nearly  or  quite  an  equal  number  of  candidates  for 
the  ministry  was  enrolled  among  its  students.  Not  a'  few  minis- 
ters received  the  most  of  their  education  here,  both  collegiate 
and  theological.  It  was  in  its  best  days  substantially  a  "  School 
of  the  Prophets."  The  late  excellent  William  J.  Armstrong, 
D.  D.,  with  others  scarcely  less  useful,  studied  divinity  here,  under 
the  direction  of  his  father,  assisting  him  meanwhile  in  the  Acade- 
my. Many  of  these  pious  students,  too,  were  directly  assisted 
while  studying  here,  in  the  way  of  board,  and  otherwise,  by  the 
liberality  of  numerous  Christian  families. 

Notwithstanding  the  loss  of  the  original  stock,  in  the  day  of 
trial  when  the  building  had  to  be  sold,  there  were  individuals  here, 
animated  by  a  noble  Christian  spirit,  who  secured  it  for  the  in- 
terest for  which  it  was  at  first  reared,  and  then  for  a  nominal  sum, 
$1500  of  which  were  raised  by  subscription  in  Bloomfield,  made 
it  over  to  the  Education  Society.  And  when  the  embarrassments 
of  that  Society  and  other  causes,  after  years  of  very  successful 
operation,  rendered  its  sale  again  necessary,  a  few  individuals 
by  their  liberality  saved  it  once  more  to  the  cause  of  sound  Chris- 
tian education,  when  liberal  offers  too  were  made  from  other 
sources.  So  that,  to  say  nothing  of  the  enterprise  and  liberality 
which  have  been  put  forth  in  connection  with  your  other  noble 
Educational  Establishments,  Bloomfield  has  early  and  constantly 
shown  a  high  appreciation  of  the  cause  of  Christian  Education. 
Few  places,  of  its  size  and  wealth,  I  apprehend,  have  done  as 
much  in  this  way. 

Many  years  ago  a  benevolent  member  of  this  Church  also  gave 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     87 

as  my  knowledge  extends,  have  you  reason  to  be 
ashamed.* 

A  Revival  Church  must  also  be  a  Missionary 
Church.  And  I  bless  G-od  that  you  are  bound  to 
the  great  work  of  Missions  by  living  ties  of  affec- 
tion, and  by  tender  memories  of  past  sacrifices, 
as  well  as  by  religious  duty.     As  early  as  1820  a 

$1000  as  a  permanent  fund  to  assist  in  educating  pious  young 
men  for  the  ministry,  in  connection  with  the  Bloomfield  Academy. 
This  fund  is  still  good  and  available,  although  at  present  we  have 
no  beneficiary  to  enjoy  it.  Several  have  already  been  helped 
into  the  ministry  by  it. 

*  I  had  not  the  time  for  a  thorough  investigation  on  this  point. 
There  are  enrolled  on  the  Records  of  the  Bloomfield  Church,  the 
names  cf  nearly  fifty,  who  are  known  to  have  entered  the  ministry. 
A  portion  of  these  were  from  abroad,  who  came  to  reside  here, 
having  already  made  a  profession,  or  to  receive  their  education  at 
the  Bloomfield  Academy.  The  following  persons,  however,  (and 
doubtless  the  list  is  far  from  being  complete,)  may  with  strict  pro- 
priety be  called  the  children  of  this  Church,  and  with  one  or  two 
exceptions,  made  a  profession  of  religion  in  connection  with  it, 
viz. : 

Stephen  Dodd,  Daniel  Crane, 

Enos  A.  Osborn,  Noah  Crane, 

Michael  Osborn,  Stephen  D.  Ward, 

George  D.  Armstrong,  James  Adams, 

Samuel  L.  Tuttle,  Oliver  Crane, 

Thomas  S.  Ward,  Marcus  Crane, 

John  Ward,  Stephen  G.  Dodd, 

Joseph  Vance,  Edward  M.  Dodd, 

Frederick  F.  Judd,  Caleb  C.  Baldwin, 

William  S.  Leavitt,  Phillip  Karbach. 


88     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

female  missionary  went  from  you  to  the  Osage 
Indians.  And  since  then,  six  more  have  gone 
to  the  heathen,  making  in  all  seven — four  male 
and  three  female  missionaries,  all  but  two  of 
whom  I  believe  are  still  living.* 

Six  or  seven  of  our  members  are,  at  the  present 
time,  pursuing  their  studies  with  the  ministry  in 
view,  and  one  of  them  at  least  the  missionary 
work. 

YII.  Indirect  Fruits. 

The  influence  of  this  Church  on  this  entire  com- 
munity can  never  be  fully  told.  The  Past  and 
the  Future,  to  the  end  of  time,  will  owe  it  a  debt 
which  can  never  be  paid.  For  more  than  fifty 
years  it  has  stood  here  alone,  cultivating,  unaided 
by  any  sister  church,t  this  beautiful  valley — first 

*  The  following  are  the  names,  viz. : 

Miss  Mary  Weller,  to  the  Osage  Indians,  in  1820. 

Rev.  Nathaniel  M.  Crane,  to  India,  1836. 

Mrs.  Morrison,  (Anna  Maria  Ward,)  to  India,  1837. 

Rev.  Caleb  C.  Baldwin,  )  ^^  ^^^^^^  Ig^^^ 

Mrs.  Baldwin,  (Harriet  F.  Fairchild,)  ^ 

Rev.  Oliver  Crane,  to  the  Armenians,  in  1849. 

Rev.  Edward  M.  Dodd,  to  the  Jews  of  Thessalonica,  in  1849. 


t  Recently  a  Baptist  Church  was  organized,  and  the  Methodist* 
are  now  building  a  church  edifice. 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.     89 

and  chief  among  the  means  of  your  prosperity — 
the  ornament  of  your  attractive  village — and  send- 
ing out  its  intelligent  and  stable  piety,  and  its 
sanctified  and  systematized  influences  over  all 
this  community.  It  early  gave  a  decided  reli- 
gious character  to  the  place,  and  it  has  main- 
tained it  until  now.  It  has  given  a  high  tone  to 
public  morals,  xu  has  nursed  and  developed  the 
elements  of  a  steady  and  permanent  prosperity. 
It  has  .given  you  a  reputation  abroad  for  order, 
sobriety,  intelligence,  and  social  virtue,  which 
few  rural  towns  so  contiguous  to  the  great  Centre 
of  corruption,  can  boast  of.  It  has  made  Bloom- 
field  really  one  of  the  most  desirable  places  I  know 
of,  without  meaning  to  flatter  you,  for  Christian 
Parents  to  send  their  children  to  for  their  educa- 
tion, away  from  temptation,  and  under  strong 
moral  and  religious  influences. 

Liberal  as  your  expenditures  have  been,  you 
have  already  been  repaid  in  this  world  a  hundred- 
fold. How  many  of  your  children  it  has  kept  from 
ruin  ;  what  an  amount  of  ignorance,  pauperism, 
crime,  and  taxes  it  has  prevented  ;  what  enhanced 
value  it  has  given  to  property  ;  what  peace,  quiet 
and  thrift  shed  over  your  families,  none  but  God 


90  PLEA   FOR  THE   OLD   FOUNDATIONS. 

can  fully  estimate.  Such  foundations  as  yours 
are,  are  worth  a  great  deal  more  than  they  cost^  to 
any  people. 

Add  to  these  fruits  the  direct  results — the  souls 
converted — -the  souls  quickened  and  trained  for 
heaven — the  souls  comforted  and  helped  on  their 
weary  way  towards  a  better  land — the  seed  sown 
in  the  minds  of  the  thousands  of  youth  from 
abroad,  and  others,  through  the  agency  of  this 
Church — the  ministers  and  missionaries  it  has 
aided  to  furnish — and  the  money  it  has  given  to 
spread  the  Gospel  in  the  earth,  and  you  may  well 
rejoice  to-day  with  a  holy  rejoicing,  and  wet  these 
old  and  blessed  foundations  with  tears  of  heart- 
felt gratitude  and  renewed  dedication. 

YIII.  Your  Present  Position. 

A  past  kind  Providence  has  conducted  you  to  a 
strong,  elevated,  and  most  responsible  position. 
If  your  fathers,  in  their  infancy  and  feebleness, 
could  accomplish  so  much,  with  their  spirit  of 
piety  and  consecration,  and  their  activity  and  self- 
sacrifice,  what  might  you  not  do,  now  that  you 
have  waxed  strong,  and  reached  the  period  of  ma- 
tured and  virtuous  manhood  ?     Save  a  few  petty 


PLEA   FOR  THE   OLD   FOUNDATIONS.  91 

jealousies  and  strifes,  which  are  unworthy  of  such 
a  history  and  people,  all  these  elements  are  at 
peace.  Unembarrassed  by  debt — with  one  of  the 
most  beautiful,  durable,  and  commodious  temples 
in  the  State,  this  day  to  be  re-dedicated — with  the 
largest  membership  of  any  Church  of  our  order  in 
this  region — with  augmented  and  augmenting 
resources — with  the  prospect  of  an  increased 
population — with  the  example  and  memories  of 
the  Past  to  stimulate — and  above  all  with  the 
strong  arm  of  Jehovah  as  your  hope,  and  the 
Holy  Spirit  for  your  salvation,  degenerate  and 
unfaithful  shall  we  prove  ourselves,  if  we  seize  not 
upon  our  advantage,  and  make  the  Future  bright 
and  rich  with  the  fruit  of  our  labor. 

Oh  !  there  comes  down  upon  our  minds  and 
consciences  to-day  the  weight  of  a  great  and 
anxious  question.  Shall  we  henceforth  sustain 
the  vigor  and  life  of  these  foundations  ?  Shall  we 
rally  again  strong  in  the  place  hallowed  by  such 
memories,  and  the  birth-place  of  so  many  saints 
now  in  glory,  and  to  which  turn  the  thoughts  of 
many  a  weary  son  and  daughter  toiling  on  other 
foundations,  and  in  far-off  heathen  lands,  and  here 
give  to  the  God  of  the  Abrahamic  covenant  the 


92  PLEA   FOR  THE   OLD   FOUNDATIONS. 

homage   of  true    and    undivided   hearts,    and    a 
service  unstinted  and  untiring? 

A  7ieiv  chapter  is  begun  in  your  public  history 
this  day.  What  results  shall  it  chronicle  ?  Shall 
it  be  a  book  of  "  Lamentations,"  \h.Q  materials  of 
which  some  future  weeping  Jeremiah  shall  dig  up 
out  of  the  rains  of  all  this  prosperity  and  hope 
which  we  have  dwelt  upon  to-day  ;  or  shall  it  be 
a  record  embalmed  in  the  grateful  memories  of 
thousands  of  future  converts,  rising  up  to  call  you 
blessed,  and  a  record  rejoiced  over  in  heaven  by 
the  united  throng  of  redeemed  ones  here  born  for 
heaven  ? 

IX.  Closing  Remj^iks. 

I  cannot  close  this  Discourse,  already  greatly 
extended,  without  touching  upon  two  or  three  of 
the  many  lessons  which  this  review  has  unfolded 
to  us.     We  see  that — 

] .  Church  relations  are  a  matter  of  no  small 
importance  to  us  and  to  our  children.  There  is  a 
sentiment  extensively  prevalent  among  Christian 
people,  that  in  choosing  a  place  of  public  worship 
and  church  privileges,  the  main  points  to  be 
settled  are:    "'Is   the    minister  the  man   of  our 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS,      93 

choice  ?  Is  the  Grospel  preached  and  believed 
there  ?  Are  the  church  members  pious  and  good 
people  ?"  But  there  are  other  points  quite  as 
essential.  "What  '  foundations' have  been  laid? 
What  system  of  doctrine  and  of  government  is  re- 
cognized ?  What  is  the  spirit,  the  manner  of  life, 
the  settled  policy,  maintained  by  it?  Is  it  based 
on  the  broad,  vital,  fundamental  principles  of 
Christianity,  or  on  some  ecclesiastical  dogma,  or 
rite,  or  denominational  peculiarity?  What  has 
been  its  history  ?  What  rational  hope  is  there  of 
its  infusing  the  real  life  of  Christianity  into  the 
soul,  and  of  wisely  and  intelligently  indoctrina- 
ting and  guiding  us,  and  our  children,  and  chil- 
dren's children,  into  the  right  way?"  It  is  not, 
after  all,  so  much  the  minister,  who  may  die  or 
leave  to-morrow,  as  it  is  the  stable  and  continued 
"foundations," — the  moulding  power  of  the  Sys- 
tem of  faith  and  ecclesiastical  life  which  they  put 
themselves  under,  that  forms  the  religious  views 
and  character  of  our  worshippers. 

With  the  History  of  this  Church  before  your 
minds,  I  feel  warranted  in  saying  to  any  who 
may  be  without  a  home  in  the  Sanctuary,  "Come 
with  us,  and  we  will  do  thee  good?"     Our  foun- 


94     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

dations,  as  we  believe,  are  the  essential  doctrines 
of  the  evangelical  system.  They  are  broad,  solid, 
Christian,  and  vital  with  the  savor  of  godliness, 
and  the  spirit  of  revivals,  and  sanctified  intelli- 
gence and  influence.  The  workings  and  results, 
and  the  smiles  of  Providence,  for  more  than  half  a 
century  past,  are  this  Church's  pledges,  with 
(rod's  promises,  for  the  future.  They  are  tried 
and  permanent  foundations,  which  righteous  men 
have  laid,  and  by  which  G-od  has  wrought  such 
wonders  for  this  people. 

Intimately  connected  with  this,  is  the  idea  of  a 
home,  a  right,  an  interest,  in  the  house  of  Grod. 
There  is  moral  power  in  such  an  investment.  It 
is  a  good  thing  to  identify  one's  name  and  pro- 
perty and  example  with  such  foundations.  It 
strengthens  attachment  to  them.  It  seems  to 
give  permanency  to  one's  religious  hopes  and  inter- 
ests. It  is  a  blessed  thing,  often,  for  our  children  to 
know  that  their  parents  made  such  a  provision  for 
their  spiritual  good.  For  one,  I  shall  not  be  will- 
ing to  be  put  off  with  only  "  the  minister's  seat." 
I  want  a  home  oirayown  here,  for  my  family,  come 
over  me  what  changes  there  may.  The  Church 
is  the  emblem  of  Heaven.     And  who  would  not 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.      95 

have  a  seat  there  for  himself  and  his  gathered 
family  ?  All  without  is  change,  decay,  disquiet, 
storm;  but  this  is  the  soul's  earthly  "  res^," 
where  Hope  drops  her  fasteuings,  and  waits  in 
peace  for  immortal  day. 

2.  This  review  furnishes  affecting  evidence  of 
God's  Covenant  faithfulness.  The  Covenant  which 
underlies  the  Church  of  God  on  earth,  was  made 
with  Abraham  as  the  head  and  representative  of 
his  "household."  This  ^^  householcV  feature  is 
one  of  the  peculiar  and  marked  features  of  that 
"everlasting  Covenant,"  (G-en.  xvii. ;)  and  constant 
reference  is  made  to  it,  both  in  the  Old  Testament 
and  in  the  New.  This  Covenant  was  in  accord- 
ance with  that  Law  of  Providence  which  had  made 
the  Family  Constitution  the  sole  agency  in  origin- 
ally planting  and  in  perpetuating  the  true  reli- 
gion in  the  world  until  that  period.  It  was  also  in 
harmony  with  that  Divine  purpose  which  now 
chose  one  Family  from  among  mankind  as  the 
Covenant  Head  and  Type  of  the  universal  family 
of  believers.  Any  construction  of  that  Covenant, 
therefore,  which  destroys  this  ^^  household  ^^  feature 
of  it,  and  makes  it  strictly  and  only  individual  in 


96     PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS. 

its  character,  is  false,  and  takes  away  one  of  the 
corner-stones  of  the  Christian  fabric. 

That  Covenant  embraces  our  children,  "  the 
seed"  of  the  righteous,  in  its  special  provisions  and 
graces.  We  are  encouraged  by  its  pronriises  and 
relations  to  expect  and  labor  for  their  conversion. 
And  the  Records  of  this  Church  testify,  with  a  voice 
which  cannot  deceive,  that  God  has  had  "  respect 
unto  his  Covenant."  Instead  of  the  fathers  he  has 
raised  up  the  children.  (Ps.  xlv.  16.)  Saving  grace 
has  here  operated  mainly  along  the  line  of  a  right- 
eous seed,  and  of  sealing  ordinances. 

Take  one  fact :  Of  the  895  members  received 
into  this  Church  on  profession,  716  were  baptized 
in  infancy  or  childhood,  on  the  faith  of  their  pa- 
rents— exactly  four-fifths  of  the  whole  number  ! 
This  is  a  most  significant  and  instructive  item  of 
your  history.  In  the  face  of  such  a  fact,  in  what 
light  must  we  view  the  ridicule  often  cast  on  "  in- 
fant baptism,"  and  the  reasonings  urged  against  it? 
Would  the  G-od  of  truth  have  put  such  marked 
honor  upon  parental  faith  and  consecration  during 
all  this  period,  if  the  arrangement  was  not  a  Scrip- 
tural one,  based  on  the  Covenant  made  with  our 
father   Abraham,    and    transmitted    through    the 


PLEA    FOR   THE    OLD    FOUNDATIONS.  97 

Jewish  Clmrcli  into  the  Christian  Church?  "  Let 
God  be  true" — let  his  Providence  be  believed, 
though  it  make  "every  man  a  liar,"  (Rom.  iii.  4,) 
and  falsify  our  most  confident  reasonings,  and 
knock  away  our  foundations. 

Finally.  This  review  shows  us  in  a  strong  light 
the  value  and  power  of  associated  influence.  This  is 
another  of  the  great  laws  of  Providence.  No  mat- 
ter what  moral  or  religious  elements  exist  in  a 
community,  they  are  not  made  effective  for  exten- 
sive and  permanent  good  unless  combined.  Such  is 
the  strength  of  sin  in  the  world  ;  by  such  united 
and  compact  agencies  is  it  upheld  and  spread  ;  such 
a  vital  organic  life  has  it  come  to  possess,  that  the 
feeble  blows  of  a  single  arm  are  not  felt  ;  indivi- 
dual influence  alone  cannot  cope  with  it  with  any 
rational  hope  of  success.  The  righteous  must 
unite  their  strength.  The  separate  stones  of  truth 
and  piety  must  be  brought  together  and  laid  down 
in  broad  and  massive  foundations,  and  laid  one 
upon  another. 

It  is  on  the  principle  of  associated  influence  that 
God  has  founded  the  three  radical  Agencies  for 
good  which  he  has  established  and  perpetuated  on 
5 


98  PLEA   FOR   THE   OLD   FOUNDATIONS. 

earth,  the  Family,  the  State  and  the  Church.  Had 
your  fathers  wrought  here  singly,  what  could  they 
have  done?  Their  efficiency,  the  power  of  their 
influence,  lay  in  union — in  concert  of  action — in 
building  over  against  each  other's  "  foundations." 
Thus  they  built  up  here  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
Thus  one  generation  joins  on  to  another,  like  the 
links  of  an  endless  chain — the  life  of  individuals^ 
and  families,  and  ages,  blending  into  one  continuous 
line  of  power,  and  that  power  all  the  while  increas- 
ing, and  perpetuating  itself,  by  the  laws  of  moral 
development  and  growth. 

Brethren  ;  I  invite  you  to-day  to  plant  your  feet 
anew  on  these  blessed  foundations.  Grird  your- 
selves for  another  race.  More  than  fifty  years  of 
memorable  scenes  and  triumphs  are  looking  down 
upon  you  from  the  heights  of  your  favored  Zion. 
Fill  your  minds  with  the  stirring  facts  of  your 
history.  Baptize  your  souls  with  the  spirit  of  it. 
Prove  yourselves  equal  to  the  duty  which  it  lays 
upon  you. 

There  is  the  power  of  an  ever-expanding  and 
augmenting  life  in  these  old  "  foundations."  Every 
one  of  these  sixteen  past  revivals  has  helped  to  giva 


PLEA  FOR  THE  OLD  FOUNDATIONS.      99 

vitality  and  breadth  to  them.  The  prayers  and 
tears  of  your  sainted  dead  are  their  memorials  be- 
fore Grod.  May  the  Spirit  of  the  Highest,  who  has 
so  often  deigned  to  honor  these  walls  with  his  gra- 
cious presence,  renew  and  multiply  his  memor- 
able triumphs,  until  the  converts  to  righteousness 
here  shall  outnumber  the  stones  in  your  earthly 
temple  !  Here  let  the  voice  of  Eternal  Truth  speak 
to  dying  sinners  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and, 
responsive  to  its  appeals,  let  streams  of  penitence 
here  flow  while  there  are  sins  on  earth  to  be  for- 
given ;  and  streams  of  life  here  go  forth  to  make 
glad  the  earth  while  there  are  moral  wildernesses  to 
be  reclaimed.  And  when  the  great  day  of  Jubilee 
has  come,  and  Christ's  redeemed  ones  have  all  been 
gathered  home  to  glory,  let  the  builders  of  these 
"  foundations,"  gathering  round  them  all  wha  have 
wrought  upon  them,  and  all  who  have  been  won 
to  life  by  means  of  them,  say  with  exulting  joy : 
'^Behold,  we,  and  the  children  multitudinous, 
ivhom  God  hath  given  us.''''     Amen, 


l^peiiMf. 


[I  HAVE  taken  the  liberty  to  append,  in  order  to  pre- 
serve it,  a  part  of  a  MS.  History  of  Bloomfield,  prepared  by 
the  Rev.  Stephen  Dodd,  of  East  Haven,  Conn.,  who  has 
shown  a  highly  commendable  zeal  in  seeking  out  and 
recording  matters  of  interest  connected  with  your  early 
history.  I  give  only  that  part  of  it  which  is  directly 
connected  with  your  parish  and  church  mattei's. — j.  m.  s.] 


LiOCAIi  NAMES. 


It  had  been  the  practice  for  many  years  to  use  the 
word  Wardsesson,  supposing  that  it  was  derived  from 
some  person  or  family  by  the  name  of  Ward.  But  this 
was  a  palpable  mistake.  The  real  name  was  of  Indian 
origin.  Watssessing ,  Watsesson,  written  in  both  forms 
in  the  ancient  records  of  Newark  ;  but  the  first  is  doubt- 
less the  correct  spelling.  It  was  first  used  with  reference 
to  the  School-hoxise  Hill  and  the  adjacent  Plains,  as 
formerly  named.  Thus  the  ancient  deeds  of  our  ancestor, 
Daniel  Dodd,  and  his  brother,  Samuel  Dodd,  the  grand- 
father of  the  late  Aaron  Dodd,  mention  Watsessimj  Hill., 
Watssessing  Plains,  as  also  some  other  records.  And, 
were  I  a  resident  of  Bloomfield,  I  would  use  my  influence 
to  have  the  old  Indian  name  revived — Watsessing  Hill, 
School- house,  &,g.  The  neighborhood  north  of  the  Meet- 
ing-house was  once  called  Crab  Orchard,  from  the  crab- 
apple  trees  which  were  standing  there  in  the  time  of  the 
first  settlers.  The  young  men  tried  to  introduce  the  name 
Hopewell,  but  did  not  succeed. 

Crane  Town  was  a  name  early  given  to  that  tract 
under  the  mountain,  settled  by  the  Crane  families  from 
Newark.  The  two  first  were  brothers,  Azariah  and  Na- 
thaniel,     Azariah,  the   grandfather  of  Aaron   and    my 

(100) 


APPENDIX.  101 

mother,  lived  about  where  Elias  B.  Crane  resided  ;  the 
brother  of  Azariah,  and  father  of  WilUam  and  Noah,  hved 
■where  Major  Crane  died. 

Under  these  circumstances,  our  fathers  thought  it  ex- 
pedient to  attempt  to  introduce  some  general  name  to 
apply  to  all  the  ground  covered  b}'  the  proposed  Ecclesi- 
astical Congregauon.  For  this  purpose  they  held  several 
meetings  for  consultation,  which  resulted  as  follows. 

In  the  Sentinel  of  Freedom,  of  Dec.  7,  1796,  I  find 
the  following  notices : 

"x\t  a  numerous  meeting  of  the  Congregation  of  Ward- 
sesson,  Oct.  13,  1790;  Joseph  Davis,  Esq.,  in  the  Chair  ; 

"It  appearing  that,  agreeably  to  a  resolution  of  a 
meeting  held  the  10th  inst.,  advertisements  have  been 
set  up  in  three  of  the  most  public  places  within  the 
bounds  of  the  Congregation,  notifying  the  objects  of  tlie 
present  meeting  ;  the  members  proceeded  to  choose  a 
name  by  which  the  society  should  be  distinguished,  when 
it  appeared  that  the  name  of  Bloomfield  had  a  large 
majority  of  votes. 

"  Extract  from  the  minutes. 

ISAAC  W.  CRANE,  Secretary." 

"At  a  meeting  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Wardsesson  Con- 
gregation, Oct.  20,  1796  ; 

"Agreeably  to  a  resolution  of  the  Congregation,  the 
Trustees,  having  met  this  day,  do  assume  to  themselves 
the  name  and  title  of  The  Trustets  of  the  Prc^yterian 
Society  of  Bloomfield . 

"  Extract  from  the  minutes. 

ISAAC  DODD,  President." 

To  the  preceding  I  will  add,  from  memory,  in  which  I 
may  be  incorrect,  that  Isaac  Watts  Crane  being  acquaint- 
ed with  Gen.  Bloomfield  of  Burlington,  a  man  of  wealth, 
and  having  no  children,  thought  it  might  be  policy  to 
take  his  name  and  engage  his  generosity  towards  this 
child  of  adoption.  And,  as  it  will  appear  in  the  sequel, 
the  plan  produced  some  good  fruit.      This  plan  was  car- 


102  APPENDIX. 

ried  out  by  giving  Gen.  Bloomfield  suitable  notice  of 
■what  had  been  done  respecting  the  adoption  of  his  name, 
accompanied  with  a  present  of  a  barrel  of  fine  cider,  the 
produce  of  Bloomfield.  This  plan  also  drew  from  him 
the  promise  of  a  visit,  as  will  appear  presently. 

THE  CORNEK-STONE. 

I  left  home,  to  enter  Union  College,  Sep.  12,  1796. 
At  that  date  nothing  had  been  done  at  the  Meeting-house. 
The  ground,  even,  liad  not  been  broken. — I  have  often 
regretted  the  mistake  made  in  placing  the  date,  1796,  on 
the  slab  over  the  door;  by  what  authority  1  know  not. 
The  history  of  that  transaction,  so  far  as  recollection 
serves  me,  is,  in  substance,  as  follows :  The  quarry- 
men  who  had  supplied  a  certain  stone-cutter's  shop  in  New 
York  with  a  large  quantity  of  principal  stone,  solicited 
him  (the  name  I  have  lost,  unless  it  was  Lindsey  & 
Knox)  for  a  marble  slab  to  place  in  the  niche  prepared 
for  that  purpose,  with  a  suitable  engraving,  which  he 
agreed  to  do.  It  was  prepared  at  the  shop  in  New  York, 
and  two  workmen  came  over  with  it  and  put  it  in  its 
place.  It  is  my  impression  that  the  slab  was  a  donation 
from  the  New  York  shop. 

Having  done  this,  the  workmen  engaged  in  dressing 
and  laying  the  two  platforms  at  the  middle  and  west 
doors.  1  baw  them  more  than  once  at  the  work,  and  I 
think  it  was  done  in  the  year  1800  or  1801.  And  the 
history  of  those  capital  stones  is  this  :  They  were  quarried 
in  the  Harrison  quarry,  the  two  being  one  stone,  and 
when  got  out  measured  19,  by  7  feet,  or  thereabouts.  I 
write  from  memory.  It  was  designed  to  be  laid  whole  in 
front  of  the  steeple.  They  slung  it  under  a  long  wagon, 
but  the  timbers  bending  under  the  weight  after  moving  a 
little  way  with  it,  the  stone  dragged  on  the  ground.  They 
had  to  stop  ;  and,  in  letting  down  one  end,  in  order  to  get 
a  new  purchase  and  raise  the  stone  higher,  it  broke  with 
its  own  weight.  They  then  slung  the  parts  under  two 
Avagons,  and  brought  them  safely  to  the  place  for  dressing. 


APPENDIX.  103 

Respecting  the  date,  1796,  I  remark:  That  it  was  in 
contemplation  to  erect  a  plain  wooden  house,  and  which 
was  called  a  temporary  buildincr,  till  they  became  able  to 
erect  a  more  durable  liouse.  For  this  purpose  the  join- 
ers went  to  Springfield  and  examined  the  Meeting-house 
in  that  place,  and  returned  with  the  conclusion  to  advise 
the  Society  to  build  one  somewhat  similar  to  it.  And 
accordingly  the  trench  was  opened  for  the  foundation, 
about  three  or  four  rods  from  the  south-west  corner  of  the 
present  house.  And  my  uncle,  Jairus  Dodd,  went  to 
work  in  the  "making  of  the  sashes  for  the  windows — a 
pile  of  these  I  saw  in  my  grandfather's  old  barn.  He  re- 
moved west  of  Utica  in  Oct.,  1790.  But  Simeon  Bald- 
win and  a  few  others  remonstrated  against  this  plan, 
saying  this  would  be  a  permanent  temporary  bouse  until 
it  rotted  down.  Mr.  Baldwin,  especially,  said,  I  shall  do 
nothing  for  this  house ;  for,  as  I  have  no  childi'en,  I  want 
to  place  my  property  in  a  more  durable  house,  which 
may  do  good  to  future  generations.  And  hence  they 
came  to  the  harmonious  and  wise  conclusion,  to  erect  the 
present  stone  temple.  These  matters  occurred  in  the  year 
1796  ;  and  from  these  circumstances  originated  (I  con- 
jecture) the  date  on  the  slab,  1790. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  I  remark,  that  the  stone  for 
the  house  was  got  from  the  quarry  of  David  Morris,  and 
from  that  now  partly  covered  by  the  water  of  D.  Brom- 
ley's saw-mill  pond.  There  was  an  old  stone  grist-mill 
standing  on  the  ground  where  Vandyke's  chocolate-mill 
was  erected  ;  the  proprietors  of  that  gave  it  to  the  Society 
for  the  use  of  their  building.  The  stone  was  removed 
accordingly,  and  the  roof  was  made  use  of  for  a  lime  and 
mortar  house ;  and  when  the  masonry  was  done,  it  was 
sold,  with  the  other  materials  left,  at  auction,  and  now 
constitutes  the  rafters  and  gable- ends  of  Aaron  Pierson's 
barn. 

liATINC  OF  THE  CORXER-STONE. 

In  the  spring  of  1797,  the  work  was  commenced  in 
earnest.     Materials  were  collected,  the  trench  was  dug 


104  APPENDIX. 

for  the  foundation,  and  the  dimensions  of  the  walls  given 
out.  But  when  the  work  began,  the  masons  were  directed, 
privately,  to  crowd  the  foundation  to  the  outside  of  the 
trench,  which  was  large,  and  thus  some  addition  was 
gained  to  the  size  of  the  building,  as  first  contemplated  ; 
for  with  some  the  cry  was.  The  house  will  be  too  large— 
we  shall  never  be  able  to  fill  it — we  can  never  finish  it, 
nor  pay  for  it.     Were  these  predictions  verified  ? 

Well,  according  to  modern  fashion,  (of  Free  Mason 
origin,)  a  corner-stone  must  be  laid  with  religious  cere- 
monies, by  one  of  the  pastors  of  that  congregation.  This, 
■was  Dr.  McWhorter,  (a  Free  Mason,  too;  though,  I  sup- 
pose, none  of  the  people  thought  of  that,  for  I  believe 
there  was  not  a  Free  Mason  in  all  the  congregation.) 
This  transaction  took  place  on  Monday,  May  8th,  1797. 
I  happen  to  have  some  old  papers  in  my  trunk  that  are 
my  guide.  The  first  Commencement  of  Union  College 
took  place  the  first  Wednesday  in  May,  being  the  3d  day 
of  the  month,  '97.  On  Thursday  I  paid  money  on  account, 
the  receipt  for  which  is  dated  May  4 ;  I  took  ship  at  Al- 
bany next  day,  and  aniving  on  the  Monday  following  at 
home,  about  midday,  found  the  family  preparing  to  go 
to  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone.  Being  fatigued  with  my 
journey,  I  did  not  go.  I  have  also  found  in  a  memoran- 
dum-book of  a  dear  friend,  now  deceased,  this  entry  for 
the  year  1797,  viz  :  "  May  8th  :  Monday,  pleasant — wind 
westerly.  I  went  to  Bloomfield,  to  the  laying  of  the  cor- 
ner-stone  of  the  neio  Meeting-house.'''  With  whom  and 
family,  that  same  evening,  1  had  conversation  on  the 
transactions  of  the  day. 

The  work  was  regularly  commenced  a  few  days  after 
this  ceremony,  as  appears  from  a  notice  in  the  Sentinel 
of  June  14,  1797,  as  follows: 

"Communication  from  Bloomfield. — The  head  work- 
men, mechanics  and  laborers,  employed  at  Bloomfield 
Meeting-house,  take  this  public  way  of  expressing  their 
acknowledgments  to  Deacon    Morris    and  Mrs.   Morris, 


APPE^TDIX.  105 

for  theii*  polite  and  agreeable  repast  of  cake  and  cider 
which  they  gratuitously  afforded  to  them  (who  were  40 
in  number)  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  said 
building,  and  cannot  refrain  from  expressing  a  hope  that 
this  new  method  of  laying  corner  stor.es  may  be  adopted 
on  all  similar  occasions.     The  building  goes  on  rapidly." 

I  do  not  know,  or  recollect,  to  what  particular  transac- 
tion this  refers.  I  suppose  it  refers  to  the  laying  of 
the  first  course  of  ashlers.  But  I  remember  that  when 
they  Avere  ready  to  lay  the  %Oater- table,  boss  King  got  the 
first  stone  ready  on  the  sotith-west  corner.  In  the  mean- 
time, they  had  despatched  a  messenger  to  Col.  Cadmus, 
requesting  his  presence  and  aid  in  laying  this  Jirst  corner- 
stone of  the  loater-table.  He  was  animated — walked  off 
with  speed,  and  was  there  presently.  The  stone  was 
placed  in  due  order  ;  a  hammer  Avas  placed  in  his  hand, 
and  he  performed  the  service,  and  laid  down  on  it  a  silver 
dollar.  I  saw  the  dollar,  and  lieard  it  ring — it  was  grog- 
money.  Returning  to  college  a  few  days  after,  I  saw  no 
more  of  the  building  till  October  of  that  year ;  when  the 
main  rafters  having  been  raised,  they  were  filling  up  the 
spaces  and  preparing  to  put  on  the  shingles ;  and  having 
put  on  the  roof,  the  work  was  suspended. 

It  may  not  be  useless  to  remark  that,  in  order  to  raise 
the  heavy  timbers  of  the  roof  with  safety,  and  have  a 
proper  stage  for  the  plastering  of  the  arch,  a  complete 
floor  was  laid  all  over  the  building,  level  with  the  top  of 
the  side  walls ;  and  when  the  raising  was  over,  tables 
were  spread  thereon,  and  men.  women,  and  children 
marched  up  the  gangway  and  took  dinner  on  the  top  of 
the  walls  of  the  house. 

The  Trustees  of  this  year,  1797,  Avere  Samuel  Ward, 
Ephraim  Morris,  Oliver  Crane,  and  Joseph  Davis.  The 
Managers  of  the  building  were  Simeon  BaldAvin,  Na-' 
thaniel  Crane,  and  Joseph  Davis — all  dead !  The  head 
workmen  were  Aury  King,  of  the  masons ;  Samuel 
Ward,  architect.     But  David  James,  of  Newark,  having 


106  APPENDIX. 

already  a  draught  of  the  house,  was  soon  employed, 
who  continued  in  supeiintendence  (ill  the  house  was 
finished. — Rev.  Calvin  White  was  employed  about  a  year, 
as  a  supply ;  about  which  time  it  was  discovered  that  he 
was  preparing  to  take  orders  in  the  Prelatical  Church, 
and  was  discharged.  He  sunk  in  the  estimation  of 
Christians,  and  of  the  community  generally ;  for,  at  the 
very  time  he  was  employed  at  B.,  his  name  was  on  the 
New  York  Prelate's  Register,  as  a  candidate  for  his  ordi- 
nation. He  spent  several  years  in  that  connection,  and 
then,  I  think,  about  thirty  years  since,  he  avowed  his  con- 
version to  Popery.  He  now  resides  in  Derby,  a  hoary- 
headed  papist. 

1  now  return  a  little  back  to  notice  another  transaction 
of  considerable  importance,  taken  from  the  Sentinel  of 
July  12,  1797. 

"  Communication  from  Bloomfield. — On  Thursday, 
the  6th  inst.,  Maj.  Gen.  Bloomfield  and  his  lady  made  a 
visit  to  the  Society  of  Bloomfield.  They  were  escorted 
from  Orange  by  Lieut.  Baldwin's  (Jesse?)  division  of 
cavalry,  and  other  gentlemen,  to  the  house  of  Joseph 
Davis,  Esq.,  where  they  were  received  by  a  numerous 
concourse  of  people  belonging  to  the  Society.  A  pro- 
cession was  then  formed  in  the  following  order : 

"  The  farmers,  headed  by  Col.  Cadmus  and  Mr.  Timo- 
thy Ward ;  the  masons  and  laborers  ;  the  trustees  and 
managers ;  the  venerable  clergy ;  Gen.  Bloomfield  and 
suite  ;  the  battalion  officers  ;  Lieut.  Baldwin's  division  of 
horsemen  ;  forty  young  ladies  uniformly  dressed  in  white, 
their  heads  neatly  ornamented  with  turbans  and  corona 
hedera,  crowned  with  ivy,  besides  two  hundred  young 
children  belonging  to  the  schools  of  Bloomfield  ;  and  in  the 
rear  of  the  whole,  Capt.  Crane's  elegant  company  of  in- 
fantry, giving  the  procession  a  dignified  appearance.  The 
procession  being  thus  formed,  proceeded  to  the  new 
stone  church  and  from  thence  to  a  large  bower,  prepared 
for  the  occasion,  where  a  prayer  was  made  by  the  Rev. 
Mr.  White,  adapted  to  the  occasion ;  and  anthems  were 


APPENDIX.  107 

sung  by  forty  young  ladies,  uniformly  dressed  in  white. 
Gen.  Bloomfield,  from  an  eminence,  addressed  the  assem- 
bly, recommending  the  virtues  of  patriotism  and  of  politi- 
cal and  Christian  union.  An  answer  was  returned  by  Mr. 
Watts  Crane  in  behalf  of  the  Society,  reechoing  the  same 
sentiments.  Before  Gen.  Bloomfield  left  the  place,  he 
presented  the  Society  with  the  very  liberal  donation  of 
8140,  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  them  in  building  their 
new  church  ;  and  made  provision  for  adding  100  vol- 
umes to  the  Bloomfield  Library.  Mrs.  Bloomfield  pre- 
sented them  with  a  very  elegant  gilt  Bible." 

[For  an  interesting  account  of  "  the  providential  effi- 
cacy of  the  $140  donation  from  General  Bloomfield," 
which  Mr.  Dodd  has  given  here,  see  note  on  p.  58. 

J.  M.  s.] 

In  the  summer  of  1799  we  held  our  meetings  in  the 
house,  before  the  windows  were  in  or  the  floors  were  laid. 
Pride  had  not  then  forbidden  our  assembling  in  such  a 
humble  style.  And  as  we  had  supplies  for  preaching 
only  a  part  of  the  time,  worship  was  conducted  by  the 
officers  of  the  church,  and  1  read  the  sermons ;  and  we 
had  precious  seasons,  for  we  had  the  presence  of  the  Lord. 
The  plastering  was  done  that  year,  I  think :  the  rubbish 
was  cleared  out,  and  the  windows  being  put  in,  we  could 
meet  more  comfortably,  especially  after  the  floors  were 
laid  ;  so  that  the  house,  in  the  course  of  the  year  1800, 
was  furnished  with  slips,  pews,  &c. 

Another  incidental  anecdote  may  be  mentioned,  for  the 
purpose  of  showing  the  youth  and  children  how  some 
things  were  done  in  a  small  way,  with  a  little  personal 
enterprise.  In  the  fall  of  1800  the  pulpit  was  built; 
and  when  nearly  ready  for  use,  David  Pierson  being  at 
my  father's  in  the  evening,  we  all  entered  into  conversa- 
tion about  it.  And  the  question  came  up,  "  How  shall 
the  pulpit  be  dressed,  and  by  what  means  ?"  I  took  pen 
in  hand,  and  wrote  three  subscriptions  to  be  circulated 
next   day.     The    next  morning  I  sent  one    to  Stephen 


108  APPENDIX. 

Fordham,  the  second  to  Nathaniel  Bruen,  and  with  the 
third  I  started  myself — a  snowy  day — and  went  through 
the  north  section  of  the  Society,  as  far  as  Ephraim  Cocke- 
fair's,  and  then  by  Newtowni  home.  That  evening,  or  the 
following,  Mr.  Fordham  called  upon  me  to  compare  the 
results,  and  to  consult  what  further  should  be  done.  We 
had  collected  over  $30.  I  find,  by  a  receipt  he  gave  me 
that  evening,  that  I  had  collected  $15.40.  It  was  then 
concluded  that  Mr,  F.  should  go  the  next  day  to  New 
York,  and  purchase  damask  silk  for  the  pulpit.  He 
accordingly  went  to  New  York,  and  searched  the  dry 
goods  shops,  but  could  not  find  the  article.  Finally,  he 
was  informed  that  a  certain  ancient  lady  had  a  gown  of 
that  description,  and  she  might  probably  be  persuaded 
to  sell  it  for  that  object.  He  was  introduced ;  made  a 
bargain;  and  paid  k'SO  for  the  gown,  done  up  in  the 
highest  style  of  ancient  days.  Mr.  Fordham  mounted 
his  horse  with  his  prize  and  returned.  In  a  few  days  the 
ladies  suficiently  skilled  in  such  work  convened  ;  the 
gown  was  carefully  demolished,  and  was  found  to  contain 
enough  cloth  for  two  dresses  for  the  pulpit.  My  wife, 
being  skilled  in  such  work,  took  charge  of  it,  and  all 
assisting,  the  pulpit  was  handsomely  dressed,  and  the 
Bible  and  Psalm-book  laid  in  order  upon  it. 

The  first  school-house  was  erected  on  the  hill  nearly  a 
hundred  years  ago  ;  it  was  enlarged  at  the  east  end  while 
I  went  to  school  there. 

The  school  by  the  Meeting-house  was  established 
about  the  same  time.  A  house  built  by  Daniel  Dodd,  I 
think,  son  of  Thomas,  which  stood  on  the  little  hill  east 
of  the  grist-mill  on  Branch  Brook,  was  drawn  up  whole 
and  fitted  for  a  school- house,  and  was  afterwards  burnt. 
There,  a  muUilude  of  children  were  educated,  and  there, 
in  1*785  or  6,  and  in  1800,  I  saw  and  heard  and  remem- 
ber God's  mighty  works  of  grace.         Stephen  Dodd. 

East  Haven,  Ct.,  Feb.  9,  1846. 


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